Awfully Big Adventures
by sphinxs-legend
Summary: Adalyn lives in a dark world that she tries not to see the truth behind. Having lost touch with what little reality she has left, she's not really surprised when she's imprinted on and dragged through the supernatural world. She doesn't even mind the chance of losing herself forever... Embry/OC
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Twilight or any of it's affiliations, those belong to Stephanie Meyer. I own any original or unrecognizable characters and sub-plots, including Adalyn and her family.**

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><p><strong>Summary:<strong> Adalyn lives in a neglectful world where she constantly escapes by losing herself in her wonderful novels. Having lost touch with what little bit of reality she has left to hang on to, she's not really surprised when she is imprinted on and dragged through the supernatural world or, more importantly, when it seems she may be lost in it forever... 

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><p>When you had been through what Adalyn had, death was hard not to find crossing your mind. In her lonely hours she had pictured every way that she could possibly die, every reason: fire, water, air, earth and man. But she had never realized that she would go like this.<p>

It wasn't like her books had warned. It was painful and hardly at all romantic. There was no silver lining to her lying on the forest floor. There were no cherubs whispering her into the great unknown. There was only pain and whispers and there was rain. No, not rain. Tears.

"Don't you even think about leaving me," Embry threatened weakly. A smile tugged at the sides of her mouth, but she couldn't make it honest for him. She was not as selfish as her treasured heroines. Still, she tried her best; just so he wouldn't have to know what this was like. He was never threatened by death like her.

Maybe it was romantic, in it's own devastating way.

"Is this how Lily felt?" She whispered into the space behind him. She almost expected something to answer her, but she was not yet that lost. She doubted that Lily would have been through something so heartbreaking. She hoped with every fiber of her being that she had not been in this much pain. She hadn't deserved to be in pain for her end.

But Adalyn did, that she knew. She should have seen this coming for years, an untimely death in dramatic times - so dramatic and clouded that she would be a victim of miscounting, the one that was lost who no one would remember.

But what about Embry? No, she wouldn't be lost to him.

"You love me," she whispered, watching him shift in and out of focus.

"I love you so much." Embry affirmed, holding her hand tightly. He was very warm, she realized dazedly. He was very, very warm - perhaps something about what she'd read had been true: death was cold.

Cold and unforgiving.

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><p><strong>WARNING: THIS STORY WILL HAVE SPOILERS FOR MY OTHER STORY <strong>_Forgetting Franki_**. **

**Here it is, the much awaited story of Embry and his imprint! As you saw up top, this story is sort of like a side story to my story **_**Forgetting Franki, **_**but it will give away some key plot points in that story - so don't hate me if you read this first and didn't heed the warning! **

**Thank you all for your support and interest in me persuing this sub-plot. I hope you enjoy what comes of it :)**

**Reviews are love.**

**-Egypt**


	2. Acidity

**Here is the second chapter for this story. A few reminders: I've already given you the disclaimer and that will run for the whole story as I commonly forget to put it up here; I do not know how long this story will end up being - it may be a mini-series length, it may end up as long as my regular stories, I do not have this as well planned as others, but I needed to get this story out to you. I make no promises about how often it is updated.**

**Special thank you to my wonderful **_Angel of the Nightwatchers_** for editting and making it literate enough for you!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter One - Acidity<span>

A wolf howled in the distance, waking Adalyn out of a dead sleep. This happened most early mornings, she could never remember so many wolves howling back when she was a child - but maybe it was because the house had never been silent enough to hear them.

It took her a moment to realize what day it was, even as she looked at her bedside clock which always displayed the date. It was June 19th and 5:27am. It was one of those rare days that she was disappointed that the wolf had kept true to it's routine and woken her up with just enough time to get to the beach. Today was one of those days she wanted to pull the covers over her head and suffocate herself into the dream world, but the world didn't stop like her heart did on this day. Today she had things to do. Because of this she was quick to throw herself out of bed before she couldn't bring herself to move and leave the house. She wasn't afraid of walking in the dark around La Push. There was hardly ever any crime that couldn't be avoided with some bear repellant.

She dressed herself soundlessly in the dark, pulling her hair up into a ponytail and shrugging a raincoat over her sweater. Her overstuffed backpack was at her bedroom door waiting for her. She held onto the strap tightly so that it wouldn't hit against her legs as she toed out to the kitchen where her lunch - which she had made the night before - was chilled in the refrigerator. She shoved it into her backpack and struggled with the zipper to close the overflowing mass and finally exchanged the silence of her house for the silence of the outdoors.

As soon as the side door closed behind her, Adalyn let the cool air assault her lungs with a sigh. The sky was just starting to turn into an inky blue - sunrise was on its way. She needed to hurry to the beach if she wanted to catch it in time, apparently the wolf howls were running a little bit behind this morning.

It was only a five minute walk to the rocky shore of First Beach and like every morning it was silent and uninterrupted. No one else woke up at 5:30 in the morning, nevertheless were any of them crazy enough to go the beach with the cool morning breeze, but none of that mattered to Adalyn - particularly because it was mid-June.

The beach was deserted, her favourite way to see it. She was quick to throw her bag down by her favourite bleached log, sitting down and looking to the east, ready to see the sun coming up over the water. As she waited, she blindly searched through her things so that she could pull out her camera and separate bag of lenses.

As the sun peaked over the water, Adalyn began to take her photos. She took photos of the sunset every morning. It was extensive but for a good purpose. She had plans to create a collage on a bedroom wall of a sunrise using all the different shades and colours of the sunsets she'd already photographed. It was ambitious and long-winded, but Lily had always wanted to see the sunrise and she had never been given the chance.

Upon thought of her, Adalyn put her camera away. The magic of the sunrise was lost as soon as she remembered exactly what the purpose of her routine was and instead she looked over the water, bloodstained by the sky. The water was very calm today, uncommon from all her mornings of observation; it let her know that the weather would be nice and mild.

She looked over the water until the sun was high enough in the sky that she could see the real world around her. She wasn't quite sure that she liked what she saw. Stuffing her camera into her disorganized school bag. She also made sure to grab the tattered book right from the bottom. The cover's ink had disappeared from wear, but she would have been able to know the book by heart. She took it in her hands and looked out over the water again.

_"Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie..."_

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><p>Embry was not pleased to have to go to school today. Since his mother had given him the ultimatum of passing his classes or getting kicked out of the house, however, he found that he didn't have much of a choice. He needed to attend these crucial review weeks if he wanted to have any idea what would be on his exams.<p>

"Hey, Leah!" Embry shouted before opening the door. He had easily seen her grey fur passing by in the forest as she was still on patrol so he stopped on the porch of Sam and Emily's house. "Stop being so late for patrol, I shouldn't have to howl to wake you up every day."

He heard a howl in response and rolled his eyes, opening the door and looking at Seth and Paul who were just finishing their breakfasts. They had also gone home to dress and say hello to their respected housemates before they had come back for food. It was a daily tradition at this point now that they had defeated the army of new born vampires. Emily smiled as she placed his and Quil's French toast front of them. "Excited for the summer?"

"If Em is even allowed out of his room for it," Quil snorted.

"I'll sneak out then, too." Embry frowned as he lathered up his plate with syrup. "She tried cornering me again last night - same old speech, just switched the words 'marijuana' and 'alcohol' with 'meth' and 'prostitution'."

"She's getting more inventive," Paul laughed. "All really good theories, too."

"If you don't shut up, I will punch you in the jaw again." Embry told him simply, through a mouthful of food.

"Oh, calm down. Besides, Rach will be pissed if I tell her you hit me again."

"_When _you tell her I hit you again," Embry mumbled. "Pussy."

"Stop getting your girlfriend to fight your battles for you, douche." Quil chirped in.

"Oh, yeah!" Seth yelled suddenly. "You were talking about Rachel and it made me think - I heard from Jake last night!"

The entire house went silent as they waited for news of their friend who had run off 3 days earlier and had, so far, refused to speak to them or come back. Paul, of course, was the first person to break the silence. "And?"

"Oh..." Seth seemed to remember that anything involving Jake was not good news. "He still doesn't want to come back."

"Great news, idiot." Quil hissed, shoving his plate away from him. Emily was quick to pick it up in case any of them were feeling angry enough to throw them against the wall again.

"Sorry," Seth kicked at the leg of the table. Embry kept his eyes on his plate.

"Well, serves the asshole right. If he doesn't want to come back, I don't fuckin' want him here." Paul said loudly, even though everyone knew it was a lie. Rachel was very upset that her brother had disappeared thanks to Bella Swan being as selfish as she always was - and if your imprint was upset, you were upset. Everyone knew this, even Seth and Embry who hadn't found their own imprints yet.

"Breakfast was great, Em." Embry said to her, putting his plate in the sink for her. She smiled at him for at least being slightly considerate. "Let's get to school, guys."

"Please remember that I need some of you guys here to help move the furniture from the spare room." Emily said quickly, putting a hand on her swollen belly. "We want to start painting it this weekend."

Emily had a beautiful baby bump. She was four months along and already looked nice and round. It looked like she was going to have a fair sized baby. It was hard to believe she still had just over five months of waiting and becoming a giant beach ball.

"What colour are you going to paint it since you don't know what it is?"

"_It _is a _baby_, Paul." Emily chastised. "And we're going to paint it a mustard yellow."

"Yellow?" Seth frowned. "That'd keep me up all night."

"It's a baby, it'll be up all night anyway." Embry shrugged as they started heading towards the door.

"Claire isn't," Quil smiled dreamily. Seth and Embry rolled their eyes as Paul hit Quil upside the head, mumbling something about how Quil shouldn't say _he _was pathetic when Quil always made comments like that.

"Yeah, we'll be here, Emily!" Seth said with a smile as the door closed between Emily and the boys. The teenagers hopped into Paul's truck quietly and headed to the school - each dreading the day ahead of them, almost as if they knew that it would be life-altering...

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><p>Quileute Tribal School was Adalyn's personal version of what hell should look like. It was full of people that she would never be a part of and never be accepted by. It was full of isolation and ridicule. She had never been a popular girl, she was comfortable knowing that she didn't really have any friends beside her cousin, Jessica, who was the only person who dared to speak to her. Adalyn was okay with that. She knew that most of the people here won't worth her time anyway and was comfortable knowing that her reputation kept others away unless they were pulling some sort of prank on her. For group projects, she was the girl who did all the work and put the group members name on the worksheet - she had no desire to try and fake civility for a week.<p>

The school loomed over her and she couldn't help but sigh. It was going ot be a terrible day, she was sure that Simone would bully her even worse than normal - it was June 19th. She had been preparing herself for Simone's cruelty for the past month, knowing that today would be worse than any others. She just had to try and remember that the summer was coming soon and then she could go stay with her Aunt Terra in Seattle.

"Watch it, Abbie!" Someone shouted as they pushed her hard against her shoulder. Her backpack slipped off and almost fell - it made her heart skip. She had all of her camera lenses in there and those were irreplaceable. She glared at Chris Knowls and he smirked in response as he walked up the stairs and into the main hallway.

"It's _Addie_, asshole." she grumbled, righting her backpack before she set off to her locker.

"Hey, Addie!" She would recognize Jessica's voice anywhere and turned to see her cousin running towards her with a solemn expression. "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm so great I could jump off a bridge," the sarcasm could be heard from a mile away.

"Listen, by the end of next week you'll be out of here. Then we'll be seniors."

"Which is a nice way of saying that we still have another year here." She mumbled as she opened her locker and started to put things in their proper places.

"How can you be so glum about school when _they're _here?" Jessica breathed, her dark eyes conspicuously dragging behind the La Push gang as they walked through the hall. Adalyn was surprised that Paul, Embry, Quil and Seth had all deemed class worthy of attendance on the same day. It was rare that they attended nevertheless that they were attending together. Then again, Jacob Black was still missing - a few rumours had said he'd left the reservation completely for an early summer getaway before that pale face's wedding in August.

"They're not that great, Jess." She mumbled back, even though all she had the urge to do was take photos of them. There was something so predatory about them; the way their muscles twisted as they walked, the synchronism to all their movements. It was something that she wanted to see if her camera could catch - but it almost felt wrong taking pictures of them. She would then look like every other girl falling at their feet.

"And you're not that sane, but I don't complain about you. Where's that hunk, Black, gone? He's disappeared off my sex-dar." Adalyn's cousin joked. "Hey, my mom wants to know if you, Jordan and Danielle are coming to her party on Friday."

"I don't know, I haven't spoken to them all week." Adalyn shrugged casually at the mention of her parents. She didn't see the look that passed over Jessica's face, a look of knowing and pity, but she did sense her the apologies and glared at her until the subject was dropped.

"Have you done the Pre-Lab report for Neenam?" Jessica asked, quickly trying to cover her tracks.

"Yeah, do you need to borrow it?" She pulled it out of her binder, handing it to her cousin knowingly. She knew that this weekend there had been a party and most people were trying to forget about all the exams coming next week - of course the consequence to that party was forgetting about all the prep that exams tended to require.

"Give it to me before Chem, alright? And don't copy word for word again, Dr. Neenam isn't as clueless as Mrs Wright."

"Roger that." Jessica smiled, waving the lab report back in Adalyn's face before she ran off to her Maths class. Adalyn took her time to finish grabbing her things before she headed off to her English class. She rarely paid attention, particularly on days like today which were "work periods" for essays that were due the day of their exam. She hadn't finished her essay yet, but she was more ahead than other people. Having so much free time meant that she constantly was bored in her classes, save the little episodes that always distracted her from Chris sharing the class with her and constantly throwing paper at her, it was as boring as ever.

By the time she was finally released to go to her world history course, she was rushing through the halls just to get away from the jerk. She wasn't afraid to stand up to him, but her energy was drained today and she didn't want to spend the little amount she had in trying to defend herself. Luckily neither he nor Simone were in her second class - but world history passed too quickly and soon she found herself dragging her feet as she headed toward chemistry which was just _filled _with popular know-it-all preps.

"Hey, Addie!" Adalyn turned towards Jessica's voice, holding her hand out expectantly for her lab report. "Georgeson totally caught me ditching his class to type this out in the library, but at least it's done. Thanks."

"No problem," she shrugged, taking the booklet from her. "Are you ready for the practical?"

"Not at all." Jess groaned. "I'm going to fail - if we get partners will you be my partner?"

"We don't get partners. It's a practical." Adalyn said bluntly, Jessica sighed again. Addie was always very blunt - if you were to ask her what she was thinking, you'd get the exact answer - even if she was thinking about all the ways she'd love to kill you. Sarah Hudgenson had found that out in the ninth grade.

"Okay," Jessica bounced on the balls of her feet. "Will you at least switch seats with me today? Then I can watch you and make sure I don't do something horribly wrong."

"I don't like helping you cheat, but I'm too lazy to stop you."

"You're my favourite little sloth!" Jessica laughed as she dashed into the classroom first, just to make sure that Adalyn wouldn't have the opportunity to change her mind.

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><p>"Without the pre-lab report, I can't let you do the practical exam." Dr Neenam told both Embry and Quil as they stood at the front of his classroom awkwardly, ignoring the other students that were watching them as they filed into the classroom. "You wouldn't be ready or know what you're doing. I'd have to give you partners, which isn't fair to them and if I partner up the two of you, you'll still fail. Pity."<p>

"So much for luck," Quil whispered to Embry quietly. Embry, however, was not ready to accept that his mother would kick him out because he failed this class thanks to a bitter teacher who couldn't find anything better to do with his years of study. It wasn't Embry's fault that he had gone nowhere. This practical was worth 10% of his final mark - if he screwed this up he was done for because he knew there was no chance that he would score high on the final.

"Please, Mr Neenam-"

"_Doctor_, Mr Call. I did not go through a doctorate in chemistry just so I could share my name with my three brothers." His face was stoic, he didn't seem to want to find any reason for leeway which made both of the boys nervous.

"Please, _doctor _Neenam," Embry tried again. "If you don't let us do this we have no chance of passing. Come on, I have a lot more riding on this than you think...I need this mark. Please...if you don't let us do this...I-I-"

"We'll take your class next year, too! You'll never get rid of us!" Quil blurted out defiantly. The doctor raised an accusing eyebrow, looking between the two boys suspiciously before he turned to the class who were starting to get their lab benches ready for the day.

"Who here has done their lab reports? Be honest." He asked loudly. Two-thirds of the class raised their hands, the rest looked off as if they hadn't heard him or tried to look innocent. He rolled his eyes at the show, mumbling about the laziness of today's generation underneath his breath. If only he knew how much work Quil and Embry actually did between these classes - Embry would love to show him what _real _work looked like: giant paws and a furry coat.

"Alright, well, show me you have it done and I'm going to pair up people who didn't get it done. Those who did will receive an extra three-percent." He said simply.

The students who had raised their hands ended up coming up to the desk and handing him their assignments. All of them were typed, in proper format - or at least, Embry thought they were in proper format. Embry had never been there for the class that had explained what a lab report was supposed to look like.

He had no chance of passing this damn course.

He had the class attendance in his hand as he marked off who had and had not received the extra marks. Quil and Embry turned to each other with smug smiles plastered onto their faces.

"I think we did this class a favour."

"No kidding. Who knew our laziness would pay off?"

"Now, now, gentlemen. I'll take off marks for back-talk." Dr Neenam said with a scowl. Both boys rolled their eyes at each other but shut their mouths, they had gotten off easy and knew not to push their boundaries.

By the end, there were six people in the twenty-eight student class who had to be placed with partners. Students who had done their work could choose to work with partners or work alone, most chose to work alone. Neenam placed Quil near the front of the classroom with some shy girl who couldn't stop blushing. Neenam pointed Embry towards the very back desk where Jessica Crow was almost bouncing in her seat. She even fixed her hair when she saw that he was on his way.

"Hey, Embry!" He tried to put a smile on his face even though he was not in the mood for her giddiness right now.

"Hey, Jess. How've you been?"

"Great! It's been a really good year. How about you?"

"It's been a shitty year, actually. I'm glad it's over." Embry said honestly, facing the front of the classroom as he saw that Neenam was going over what should be expected from everyone for the remainder of the hour.

"Oh, oh yeah," Jessica's tune changed instantly. It was as if she needed his attention, which made him want to roll his eyes at her - he did not want anyone to try and empathize with the fucked up year he'd been having. No one would ever be able to. "It's been a hard year for me, too. Today's actually the anniversary of my cousin's death."

"Really?" Embry asked, turning to look at her. "Is that Lily whoever?"

He watched as Jessica's eyes flashed over toward what looked like the front of the room briefly. She held them there for a moment before nodding and smiling sadly back toward him. It took a moment to realize that maybe she wasn't just trying to empathize with him, maybe she was really upset. "Yeah, Lily Greene."

"Sorry to hear about that."

"Not your fault," she smiled. "So, do you even know what we're doing today?"

Embry wanted to make a smart remark that he probably would have if he were able to listen to Dr Neenam's explanation of the lab they were doing, but he kept it to himself. In front of him sat a girl on her own and in front of her sat Simone and Chris - Chris had not done his lab report either. He didn't seem to really care about it either, since he kept turning around in his seat then snickering with the easiest local-tail, Simone.

"-and in the end I want you to be able to identify the differences between the two. It's a simple exercise, ladies and gents, I don't expect any questions or complaints, got it?"

"No, I have no idea." Embry admitted after being completely confused by the last few sentences of what his teacher had just told the class to do. She smiled at him, shrugging lightly.

"I just copied the work this morning, so it's all fresh in here." She tapped her temple with a wink before she went up to get some of the ingredients.

Embry groaned - she hadn't even done the work herself so she wouldn't know what to do in the end. He was not happy with where he had been seated, now fearing for his grade and wishing that he would have listened more closely to the damned_ doctor's _lecture. He followed her up to grab all the materials - cylinders, thermometers, rods, burners, and all the different holders...Embry couldn't even remember the proper names for them all.

"Whoa, careful!" A small voice hissed. By the time Embry looked where he was headed he saw a leggy girl's ponytail swinging as she tried to balance all her supplies all at once back to the desk right in front of him. He didn't have time to say he was sorry, but didn't really care - she had snapped at him pretty rudely.

As he walked back with all the things that Jessica hadn't been able to pick up, he noticed she was having a conversation with the same leggy bitch who had snapped at him. He thought about making some smart-ass comment about how she had acted, but caught onto their conversation and realized that he probably shouldn't irritate her anymore than necessary as she seemed to be giving Jessica helpful hints to the assignment.

"No, you're not supposed to _know _which ones are which." The girl said with a bit of a growl. "You're supposed to see how each liquid reacts with the mineral and _then _determine which is an acid and which is a base."

"But how will I know which reaction is for which?" Jessica whispered. The other girl huffed and turned back to her own desk, setting her work desk. Embry watched closely as Jessica observed what the other girl was doing before carefully following each step, trying to mimic her exact setup.

"Are we screwed?" He couldn't help whispering to Jessica. Jessica looked warily at their own chemistry set before looking at the table in front of them.

"Oh yeah. Royally."

Embry cursed under his breath and looked over to Quil who was already right into work with his partner. She seemed to know what she was doing. Why was he the one who got landed with the lazy chick?

After they had separated each of the liquids and solids then wrote their beginning hypotheses, observations, and predictions on their worksheet, they began by throwing an aqua liquid with the first solid.

"Oh! It's fizzing. That makes it a...uh...base, right? It's creating oxygen, isn't it?"

"_Acid_," a voice hissed from in front of them. Jessica beamed.

"I love you," she whispered back before writing it on her sheet and nudging Embry to do the same. He figured that it sounded like that made more sense than a base - shouldn't a base not have any reaction at all or something? Either way, he wrote it down.

As he was writing it down, he heard other whispers - years later, Embry would never know why he paid attention to them, what about them made him listen to their words - but they were not sweet. Instead, they were filled with snickers and a lot of rude nicknames. That was when a loud voice filled the room and with a simple "hey, Abbie!" the room fell into laugher.

Simone or Chris, either one, had decided that it would be funny to toss some of the aqua liquid into the air, causing the girl in front of him to scream as it splashed into her eyes. The room seemed to think it was funny, but having just been told that the liquid thrown into the air was an acid, Jessica jumped forward.

"Addie! Addie, are you okay?"

"Miss Greene!" Dr Neenam cried as he rushed forward. Embry vaguely wondered where he had heard that name before, but was distracted when the girl began cussing up a storm in the middle of the classroom. "Go to the principal's office this instant, you two!"

He shouted, pointing at the door and bellowing in the two assailants faces. They looked almost shocked that he would be angry with them as they trudged out the door; Embry watched them with a furrowed brow. Something about that felt wrong.

"Mr Call, the portable eyewash station is on the shelf to your left, please bring it here."

On the shelf to Embry's side he saw a container that looked like it was filled with liquid. It had something that looked like goggles which were attached to the jug of water. As he walked around the table to hand it to Dr Neenam, he watched the girl try to hide her sniffles by moving every time she did it as if it would distract from the sound. When the goggle-like part of the container was put to her eyes she jumped back and closed her eyes more tightly, everyone around was content to watch the show of her struggles. She finally let her eyes be washed even though she was groaning, wincing and cursing the whole time.

"Don't worry, Miss Greene, this acid has a very high pH." The teacher assured. Embry heard as several students scribbled down the answer to the question over that liquid - free marks should never be passed up. Especially if it comes with a distraction from an exam like this.

"It's okay, Addie. You wait until my mom tells her mom - she'll be beaten like a sister-wife!"

"Miss Crow," the teacher warned.

"Sorry." Jessica mumbled. "Are you okay, Addie?"

"I'm fine," she mumbled. She started to pull the eyewash container away from her face, even though the teacher tried to tell her that it was supposed to be a five minute process. "I said I'm fine. If I wasn't fine, trust me, I would still have this attached to my face. I just want to blink my eyes a little - check my vision."

She started doing just that, blinking and trying to cry out all the water that had just soaked and diluted the acid. Now that Embry took the time to look at her, she was obviously a pretty girl. Pure Quileute with the traditional long, dark hair and dark skin. She was tall and fairly thin, she didn't have a lot of alluring curves. But it was as she was blinking and looking around the room that her eyes landed on him.

They were like dark chocolate, they looked smooth and bitter like they had gotten their colour from being haunted with all the demons he clearly saw lurking behind them. They were red thanks to being so irritated and they were big, doe eyes. Long, thick lashes kissed her cheek bones as she blinked repeatedly as if she were dizzy, like Embry suddenly felt.

He felt himself stumble a bit as he looked at her, feeling as if everything in the earth was spinning. It felt like he had just spun around himself for a whole five minutes and he had stopped abruptly to she was the only thing that wasn't moving - she wasn't trying to make him fall down. She was trying to ground him, to sober him. This girl was here to keep him standing.

Embry knew it as soon as it had happened: Embry Call had imprinted on Adalyn Greene.

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><p><strong>I'm so glad that I got so many reviews for the prologue! Special thanks to my reviewers:<strong>

_Revpreg_**: Trust me, you will get a lot of her musings in this story. I'm glad I've left you fascinated, thank you so much for reviewing!**

_Remsony_**: I'm glad that you liked it, thank you for your review! This is a different style to Forgetting Franki, but it will definitely follow along with what we've heard from that story :)**

_Happy2BeeMe_**: Well, if you remember what is said in Forgetting Franki, I can't deny that it won't be kind. All your questions will be answered, don't you worry. Thank you for your review!**

_Angel of the Night Watchers_**: Oh yeah, Peter Pan is absolutely amazing. The title will have a lot of meaning to the story, I'm glad that you got the reference (not that I expected otherwise). Thank you for everything :)**

_Vamp Junkie_**: Aw, thank you! I hope that you liked the first chapter of the story :)**

_Tessie_**: Oh wow, that's so sweet! I'm glad that you're liking the story so much and that you like my writing. Here's the chapter you wanted to see, I'll be updating the other stories soon :)**

**So, how was it? I know it isn't my usual style but I wanted to try something new. Please tell me your thoughts through REVIEW :)**


	3. A Dinner for Crows

**Hello readers! I hope that you liked the first chapter, I'm glad that I'm already getting some response. I'd love to hear what you guys want to see happen and what questions you wish to have answered from what you already know (especially for those who have read **_Forgetting Franki_**). Special thanks go out to my wonderful editor **_Angel of the Night Watchers _**for her quick work to get this back to me so I could get it out to you!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter Two - A Dinner for Crows<p>

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><p>Adalyn was creeped out. It was the only way to describe the feeling that haunted her - or rather, maybe it was the only way to describe the <em>person <em>who haunted her. Embry Call had not left her alone since he had helped her in her chemistry class three days prior and she wasn't quite sure how to take it. At first, she thought that he was just being kind. Then she deluded herself into thinking he was actually concerned if the chemicals had done anything to her eyes. Later she put it down to the fact that he was just weird.

Embry didn't seem the type to go to these lengths to pull a prank, so she didn't necessarily feel wary around him, she just felt uncomfortable. There was something behind his eyes, something both severe and almost intimate that confused her. She'd never seen _anyone _look at her like that. She'd never seen anyone look at anyone like that. When he had started following her around like a lost puppy she had been annoyed, Adalyn may not have chosen to live an isolated life, but that didn't mean that she didn't enjoy the time it gave her to do things for herself. Embry didn't seem to like or grasp such a concept.

And even when he _wasn't _there, it was almost as if she could feel him watching her still. His gaze almost seemed to have tattooed itself into her subconsciousness, making her realize that no matter what she did, he would not leave her alone until she talked it out.

To be honest, Adalyn wasn't at all afraid of talking it out. She was not the type of person who let something like this slide. She gave people her point of view bluntly and with pride, because she was smart enough to have her own opinions and she was taught to pride herself on that - but she was not the kind of person who initiated confrontation. And Embry hadn't actually taken the opportunity to talk to her through all of his blithe tailing or intense stares.

The day of the 19th looked like it had turned itself into a full week for mourning. It was Friday now, school had just been let out and Jessica was animatedly explaining the latest episode of Embry's not-so-subtle spying while she used wild hand gestures.

"It's like you put a spell on him! Tell me honestly, did any of those books you read give you a lure-a-hunk spell? Because if it did, I promise I will start reading. I'll even nerd out with you if I have to - God, what I wouldn't give for one of those guys to fall for me!" She fawned, looking to Adalyn again who was slightly pink in the face.

"I don't read those kind of books, I read books that talk about those kind of _people_. Fiction is called fiction because it's fiction." She stated lamely. She tossed her long ponytail back over her shoulder again. "Besides, he's hardly fallen for me. I don't know what's gotten into him, but someone like Embry Call would never like someone like me."

"You're blind," she countered. "He basically drools when you enter his line of sight - or at least, he _would _if he ever let you out of it to make an entrance. Why don't you go talk to him?"

"I don't want to talk to him anymore than he wants to talk to me." Adalyn assured, kicking a loose stone on the side of the road. It skidded ahead loudly and Jessica waited until Addie had reached the rock again and kicked it ahead for a second time before she responded.

"Of course he wants you to talk to him, Ads. He practically wets his pants everytime you step too close!"

"He hasn't tried to speak to me at all and I have no reason to speak to him. It'd be a waste of time and blubbery. As much as I love fairytales and happy endings, my life is definitely not set up for one." She told her as she kicked the stone again. It skidded into the bush to the side of the road and she sighed knowing that she would now have to pay full attention to her cousin's wild ideas.

"Maybe he's your knight in shining armour," Jessica prodded. "Come on, imagine it. Girl who lives in a sad house with a terrible past - it's like you have your own tower and dragon right there."

"Hm," Adalyn tried to bite back a smile, but her imagination was running wild with thoughts of dragons, chivalrous nights, and getting the hell away from the horrors of La Push - horrors she knew even though most people wouldn't even deem it a fright.

"You like him, don't you?" Jess smiled. "I can totally see that smile on your face!"

"I don't even know him," Adalyn scolded, shoving her lightly. "You know that I'm just imagining some actual prince to come get me. Like in Fairytales or-or-well, not real life."

Jessica frowned. "You know, a prince doesn't need to be royalty or fiction to be your knight in shining armour. A relationship would be good for you-"

"Not this again," Adalyn cut her off quickly. "I don't _need _a relationship. I have other things on my mind, I don't want to get serious and get tied up in this shit-hole. Seriously don't do this to me."

"No! Embry wouldn't have to be someone you automatically think about marrying - only books work out that way, Ads - but you could have a relationship. Relationships are fun, they're something really stable, they let you have fun...they take your mind off of the things you _shouldn't _have on your mind." She frowned accusingly at Adalyn who only rolled her eyes in response.

"I don't want a summer fling. Especially not with Embry Call."

"Well, why not?" Jessica huffed. "I'd be happy to have a one-time fling with the guy! Look at him, Addie - he's a god. Admit it."

"I never said he wasn't attractive," she put her finger up to interrupt. "In fact, I never even said I didn't like him - I said I don't _know _him."

"I knew it!" Jessica yelled in victory. "Get to know him then. Talk to him, he obviously wants to talk to you by the way he bounces in his goddamn chair every time you're in one of his classes. Go say 'hey, thanks for helping me the other day', strike up a conversation, and just-" she clapped and pointed ahead of her. "Start something new."

"I don't do that and I won't do that. I have no reason to go say hi, I don't _want _to go say hi. What would we talk about? The weather, his disappeared friend, or maybe even the books I've read?" She snorted snidely. "He's not the type to read novels, Jessica."

"Addie, you could train that boy to leap through hoops the way he looks at you." Jessica smiled, looking at the house that emerged from the side of the trees. It was Adalyn's house - Jessica's was only a few houses down the road - and Jess turned to watch her cousin's face darken as she laid her eyes on it. All the lights were on and the car was in the driveway meaning that Jordan and Danielle were home. "And maybe it would be good to talk about some things."

"'Some things'?" Addie repeated curiously, happy for a reason to look away from the leering pale blue siding and the large, curtainless front windows that she knew she was being watched through.

"He could talk to you about Jake and you could talk to him about Lily," she sighed when she saw Adalyn turn on her heel and begin walking straight towards the small house. "You need to talk to someone eventually, Adalyn!"

"I talk to _you_!" She bit back, she didn't even want to give her the curtesy of turning around to address her. Jessica sighed.

"Remember to remind them that the party's tonight! Mom expects them to show!"

"I'm sure they heard you," Adalyn whispered to herself, before wiping her shoes on the mat and opening the door to with a large creak - the only sound in the silent, leering house.

* * *

><p>Embry stepped out from the forest right at Sam's door, tossing the small rock he'd retrieved from the edge of the forest between his hands. He was frowning, he didn't tend to do it often nowadays, but with Adalyn and Jessica being so back and forth and somehow still so damn cryptic, he couldn't make himself feel many happy emotions over what he'd heard. He couldn't help feeling really frustrated and even more confused.<p>

"Hey, Embry!" Emily greeted, struggling to get up from the newly arranged living room and holding her back. Her belly was starting to get heavy for her, he could tell. He couldn't quite understand why when she was still so far off. "How was Adalyn today?"

"She's still sad," he answered again with a frown. "I couldn't get up the nerve to talk to her. Where's Sam?"

"He's just getting a change of clothes, he had to phase fast to stop Paul from killing Seth." She smiled. "Why couldn't you talk to her?"

"She's just so...sad. I still think she's mourning over this Lily girl and she seems to be the type of girl who likes to be alone for it - I don't want to make her mad by interrupting the process." He couldn't help the smile the played across his face. "Followed her on the way home today."

"Embry," Emily frowned. "You need to be careful when you're a wolf close to the woods - and stalking terrifies people."

"No she's totally the sweep-her-off-her-feet, fairytale kind of girl," he smiled goofily. "She even said she finds me attractive and doesn't not like me. Kind'a."

"Congratulations!" Emily beamed. "I'm happy for you."

"Yeah, said she doesn't know me, not that she doesn't like me." His smile faded a bit. "Which...means I have to try talking to her, doesn't it?"

"It does." Sam's voice sounded from the hallway. He appeared moments later, wearing a full set of nice dinner clothes - dress shoes, nice trousers, a light blue dress shirt and a navy tie. His shoes even looked shined. He took the time to look at Emily, who was also looking more spiffed up than usual. Embry cocked his head to the side.

"What's the occasion?"

"Neighbour is having a little barbeque tonight," Sam said as he went over to Emily to fix his tie. "Thought we'd try going away from the whole 'werewolf' look."

"Neighbours?" Embry perked up. "Which neighbours?"

"The Crows," Emily responded. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait, they have a daughter - it isn't Adalyn's house, is it?"

"No, but it's her cousin Jessica's and she'll be there." He answered immediately. "Please tell me I can go!"

"We can't just invite you to someone elses party," Sam frowned sympathetically.

"We can't, but I know who can." Emily smiled quickly, pecking Sam on the cheek before walking up to Embry with the phone. "Billy was invited, but said he might not be able to go - Sue isn't going to be able to make it and he didn't want me to bother trying to maneuver a wheel chair in case Sam couldn't come. But you could do it; it's a win-win situation."

"I think I love you," Embry smiled, grabbing the phone from her.

"Watch it," Sam grumbled, grabbing his imprint and dragging her a little bit away. Embry just rolled his eyes at how protective he was over her before dialing the memorized number - it would be a win-win situation. Poor Billy hadn't really found many reasons he wanted to leave the house since Jake had left last week and he knew Sue and Charlie couldn't drag him out every day.

"Hey Billy, it's Embry." He smiled. "I have some news and a favour, which do you want to hear first?"

* * *

><p>Adalyn hated it when her Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tom hosted their barbeques, it never turned out well. Danielle and Jordan had dressed up and already walked down there while Adalyn was developing her latest roll of film in the second bathroom. She took their leaving as a sign that she had to hurry up, so after she had cleaned her makeshift dark room she got changed into something a little more spiffy.<p>

She accessorized and styled down a white, beachy sundress that she had never worn before now and even took to braiding her hair. It was the closest thing her family was getting to formal out of her.

The walk down the road was quiet save the distant sounds of laughter. It was a nice change from the regular quiet this deep down Quileute street. It was almost enchanting in it's way, as she walked down between the trees that lined and cascaded around the houses which dotted the sides. She felt like she was in a novel, where something was about to happen, something important - it was the change in the sound from silence to laughter, how the atmosphere felt lighter, or maybe even some form of clairvoyance she didn't realize she had.

By the time she walked up to Jessica's house the party was in full swing. This was where the laughter was heard from and there was lots of it as people clinked their beer bottles together and told stories. Her uncle was on the barbeque with his favourite apron which read "why have a six pack when you could have a keg?', her aunt Lisa was mingling and laughing almost too loudly. She must already be tipsy, and Jessica was in the group of people cradling what looked like beer in a clear glass.

"Adalyn, you came." Her aunt said loudly. It drew everyone's attention over to her which made her face burn - conversation stopped and all that could be heard was the sizzling of the grill for a few seconds. She fiddled with the sleeves of her shrug, before she nodded and headed over to get her own clear glass full of beer - hide it in plain sight and no one would question it.

Conversation began again, but she could feel eyes all over her - an eerily familiar feeling that could only mean one thing...

Turning around, cradling her beer, she took notice of a pair of chocolate eyes gazing at her from over a wheel chaired man - Billy Black, she recognized. Jessica had made her way over to them by now and was trying to make conversation with the older man, but Embry's eyes had not taken the time to even gaze at her. Jessica still tried, of course, which she realized would be much easier if she had Addie on her arm. She was quick to ungracefully pull her towards the conversation.

"Addie, you know Embry and Billy, don't you? Embry was the one who I was partnered with for our chemistry practical." Jess was sure to elbow her a few times in the ribs for encouragement, even though it just made Adalyn more irritable.

"Yes, nice to officially meet you." She shook Billy's hand and tried to keep from looking directly into Embry's eyes. "I'm Adalyn."

"Adalyn Greene, isn't it?" She winced, already knowing what was about to be said. "Isn't this in memoriam of your sister, Lilith?"

"Lily," she corrected instantly. It was a knee-jerk reaction that made her grimace.

"How long ago was that now? I remember reading all about it in the paper." His eyes were almost too sympathetic for Adalyn to handle so she looked over to Jessica, who looked almost as awkward as she felt.

"Four years last Tuesday. Can we change the subject? I don't mean to be rude, but talking about Lily is still really difficult for me." Jessica's eyes almost popped out of her head at the bluntness of her cousin's statement.

"Classic Addie," she interrupted with an awkward chuckle. "Such a joker."

"No, I just don't have a filter." Addie shrugged, catching Billy's eyes again. "I know that he understands and respects the pain losing someone can bring, there's no point pretending he doesn't. He didn't realize I was still so touchy about it and now he does - it's not a big deal. I'm sorry if it made anyone feel awkward, but my sister is gone and it hurts. That's really the end of the story."

Adalyn felt her face heat up when she stopped speaking and no one else felt the need to say anything after it. Billy seemed to be looking _through _her and noticing something that she couldn't see, Jessica looked scandalized, and Embry - well, she couldn't tell what was going on in his mind, but she could safely say that it would have terrified her to know.

* * *

><p>She was perfection. As Embry watched her walk away, all he could think about was how everything she had said made so much sense - everything she <em>was <em>made so much sense. Jessica stumbled out a response before following after her cousin. He couldn't help wondering if Jess knew just how plain she had looked when she stood beside Adalyn. She was wearing nicer clothes - a neon yellow dress and some strappy wicker heels - but she still looked boring.

Adalyn's white dress, gray leggings and zipper-less sweater made her skin shimmer in a way that lured Embry's eyes in. She towered over her cousin even though she was wearing ballet flats and Jessica was in heels and her hair had started to come loose of it's french braid, which gave her a beautiful wild look. Embry was able to tear his eyes away from where she'd run when he heard Billy chuckling.

"You got yourself quite the catch," Billy looked up toward him. "She'll be a lot of work."

"No she won't," Embry looked back over. "She's just hurting now. I can fix that."

"Well you'd better go fix it." Billy smiled, nodding toward where his imprint had just disappeared. Embry gave him a wide grin before he ran towards where Jessica and Adalyn were huddled talking. Embry made sure not to draw attention to himself. It was obvious that Jess was berating Addie's behaviour and it was starting some sort of argument. He wished that he could convince himself that it wasn't his business.

It wasn't long, however, before he was completely distracted from his curiosities. In fact, his curiosities were replaced by other confusions as Adalyn and Jessica abruptly stopped talking while a couple walked past them - a familiar couple. The couple was bronze skinned, dark haired, and dark eyed like all Quileutes but it was what was behind their eyes that was so familiar.

They had Adalyn's eyes. The dark, bottomless and disturbed depths that he had only ever seen in hers were mirrored within theirs...these were Adalyn's parents.

Adalyn was ramrod straight, nearly shaking as they held eye contact with her for the eight seconds it took for them to pass her. From where he was, Embry could not tell what was silently exchanged between the three Greenes, but he knew that it was not a loving, family communication.

It was cold and somehow completely unforgiving.

When the connection between them broke, Adalyn's parents did not look back toward her. They kept walking back to the group of adults that had recently gathered around the newly served food while Adalyn bent over, hands on her knees as if she were trying to catch her breath. Jessica rubbed her back, looking past the giant teenager towards the older Greenes with a hard expression before her eyes flickered towards Embry.

He felt like he was caught red-handed and couldn't help the deer-in-the-headlights expression he knew had coated his features. He wanted to fumble around and pretend he had been doing something else, but he could see by the shine in her eyes that it would be a worthless attempt - it was like she knew exactly why he was watching her cousin.

Jessica whispered something into Adalyn's ear which made her nod, Adalyn stayed as she was while the other teen walked over to Embry, determination etched in her eyes.

"You. Yes you, stalker-boy," Jessica said, poking him in the chest with a long, manicured nail. "You want her so bad, huh?"

Embry could not bring himself to speak, even though she gave an exasperated sigh towards his terrified expression.

"If you want her, go get her. Now is the _exact _time that you should go talk to her. Literally. She's basically been waiting for it all week and right now is legit the best time for her to be swept off her feet...even if it is by some steroid cracking, overbuffed hottie." her eyes narrowed toward him. "What the fuck are you waiting for? Go!"

Embry, though very confused, didn't need to be told twice. He stumbled on his way toward her, his legs feeling like jelly as he made his way over. He felt nervous, but his nerves did nothing in comparison to the anxiety that was caused by seeing her doubled over like that. He stood a good few feet from her, instinctively knowing that this girl appreciated her personal space.

"Hey, Addie..." he cursed himself as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth. He had just done three things entirely wrong in his first conversation with the love of his everlasting life:

Number one - his voice had cracked thanks to his complete terror of rejection.

Number two - he had used the nickname he only knew because he spied on her so often, he knew automatically that only friends called her by this name and as she had yet to be informed of her everlasting bond with him, he was still a stranger to her.

Number three - he had scared the shit out of a girl who was already in some sort of distress.

She had jumped so far back that the four feet he had left between them had turned into seven and she had her hand over her heart which was ready to beat itself out of her chest. He knew because he could hear it.

"Oh," she said, calming down when she realized who it was. He tried not to show how nice it was that his presence calmed her. "It's _you_."

The confidence disappeared.

He shuffled his feet a little bit, scuffing up the toe of his black and white converse - his nicest pair of shoes. He knew she was watching him and likely waiting for a reaction, but he couldn't make himself say anything after hearing the bite to her words. Was she not pleased to see him? She had made it seem like she didn't mind the idea of talking to him so long as she didn't have to start the conversation. Then again, Embry realized, she was probably looking at him like that because greeting her was not the same as initiating a conversation.

So he tried again. "Yeah, just me. I didn't mean to scare you - are you okay?"

"Yeah," she breathed. "Just don't get many six-foot-two giant men calling my name when we haven't met."

"Sorry about scaring you," he muttered quietly. He was already beginning to hate himself before he blurted, "are you okay from whatever had you doubled over?"

Her eyes, the beautiful eyes that he had already fallen in love with went through a disturbing reaction to these words. They had not warmed towards him in the very brief conversation they had gotten, but the simple statement made them ice over - a cool, metal resistance to whatever coercion she believed he would try and whatever trust she had to offer.

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"It's not," he fumbled, trying to repair the damage he could see being done. "I just saw that-"

"Why have you been following me?" she interrupted. He blinked at her bluntness.

"What?"

"You've been following me all week. You came to school three days in a row - I'm pretty sure that's a first. Now you just-so-happen to show up at my aunt and uncle's party? What's your deal?" Adalyn dared taking a step toward him. The simple step closer made his heart leap. He hadn't been this close to her for this long since he had imprinted on her in the science lab - every moment after it had just been when she brushed by him in the hall or when she was on the other side of the wall of forest.

"You didn't deserve what Chris and Simone did to you," he burst. "You put up with a lot of shit that you don't start - why?"

She crossed her arms over her chest with a glare. "Do you shit out the shit?"

He blinked in confusion. "Uh...no..."

"Then why do you care?" she asked in the same unimpressed tone.

"I - uh..."

"Listen, I don't know why you suddenly decided to notice the wallflower or why you decided to follow me around like a lost puppy-" Embry laughed out loud at the comment - how could he not? "But I don't know you. I don't know you, I don't trust you, therefore I'm not going to talk to you about things you have no right to know. So back off."

Embry could feel his chest constricting as she went to walk past him, but he was quick to grab her hand. He tried not to get to lost in the touch of it - it was cool and disturbingly soft. It fit in his hand in a way that had to be surreal and it was almost like he could feel his entire personality shifting as if his entire body knew what this woman in front of him needed.

"I know you hate it when people don't say what's on their mind," a confidence that could not have been his, explained. "So I'm just going to come out and say it: I like you. I just want you to keep me around for a bit."

It was as if he had said the magic words - she turned around, a frown still in place and her eyes still narrowed - but there was something more to them. A sparkle that he rarely saw - only when she was reading, or daydreaming...but it was there. Maybe he really _did _know instinctively what his imprint needed...

"What are you asking, Call?"

"Well, first of all, I'm asking you to call me Embry." his face lit up in a smile when he saw that her own mouth had twitched in such a beautiful way.

"And secondly?" she asked, her tone much more light than thirty seconds before.

"I want to spend time with you, that's all I'm asking."

"You just asked me to call you 'Embry'," she pointed out with a taunting eyebrow raised. To the side they heard someone sigh dramatically.

"_Goddamnit just kiss already_!" Jessica shouted, she was near the picnic table with her mother and Billy, who were also looking at the scene with mischievous expressions.

"What did you have planned?" Adalyn asked, her heartbeat beginning to speed up again from embarrassment. His smile dropped from his face when he realized that he didn't actually have _anything _planned. He hadn't planned to get this far for months at the rate he had been going - now what was he supposed to do?

"Didn't have anything planned?" She asked in a dry, sarcastic voice. He shrugged innocently, pulling his hand away from hers - ignoring the painful tug on his heartstrings - and reverting back to his shy self.

"No, I was kind of winging it."

"Do you do that with all aspects of your life?" She asked, folding her arms again. He shrugged again.

"Yeah, it's kinda my thing."

"Mm," she hummed sarcastically. "And how's that been going for y'uh?"

He shrugged again, his super-hearing let him hear Sam sigh dramatically a few picnic tables away. He even heard his alpha mutter a quick "_this girl will eat him alive_".

"Well, since I happen to know that it isn't doing well for you, how about I help you study for the chem final you're bound to fail?" His eyes lit up - it was too good to be true.

"You'd do that?"

"You have any better suggestions?" she asked in the same tone. He shook his head. "Then it's settled. When between now and Wednesday can you study?"

"Anyday, everyday-" he said quickly, but realizing how desperate he sounded he decided to switch up his tactic. "I...uh, I need a lot of help."

"I'm sure you do," she observed before she turned toward the picnic tables that had been set out and were already pretty much occupied by ravenous guests. "I'm spending my day at the beach tomorrow. Bring your things and find me there."

"Deal!" He smiled. "Can I sit with you?"

She rolled her eyes, turning away from him and heading toward the table. "As long as you don't ask anymore stupid questions."

Embry was glad to obey her wishes - he wouldn't ask any questions if that's all it took to keep her around.

* * *

><p><strong>Aww, Embry is so cute. <strong>

**Special shout outs to last chapters reviewers...**

_PrincessK16_**: Yes, it will definitely be sad, but I will make it sweet and dramatic, I can promise you that! Thank you for your review :)**

_Flaming Like A Charizard_**: Strange. I don't know what kind of porn you tend to watch, because to be honest I didn't know that this type of genre could be found in it. Oh well, the things I learn...**

_Angel of the Night Watchers_**: I don't quite find it amazing, but I'm hoping it will satisfy all the curious cats out there. Thank you for everything, yet again!**

_Happy2BeeMe_**: Yes, you're soon to find out that Adalyn isn't quite what everyone thinks she is, it will be very interesting. Embry will definitely be what saves her...or at least for a while. I promise there is a reason that Chris and Simone hate her - I guess you'll just have to wait to find out what that is ;) Thank you for your review(s)!**

_SundaySolis_**: Thank you for your review!**

**I'm glad that this story is already starting to get under people's skin - I've been getting a lot of alerts and favourite story comments already, it is really sweet, thank you. I'd love to hear your ideas and if you have any QUESTIONS about how this links into Franki's story, please ask them. I'll try to make sure that point is very clear when it comes across :) **

**Please ****REVIEW****!**

**-Egypt**


	4. Blunt Honesty

**Hello everyone! Man, this took far longer than I thought for it to get out. This is a hard one for me to write because as much as I love the story line, I really don't want to have to do all this beginning part, but I'll suffer through! Hopefully you like this and PLEASE read the note at the bottom, it's kind of important as you may have some questions by the end.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter Three - Blunt Honesty<p>

* * *

><p>Friday night had ended on a very poor note for Embry. Between the cold shoulder she seemed to be getting from her parents and Embry's unwavering attention, Adalyn had ended up leaving the barbeque early. It had almost been like she was uncomfortable in her own skin and the more Embry had tried to compliment her, the more upset she had seemed to feel. She'd ducked out quietly, trying not to draw attention to herself, and Embry hadn't had the heart to go after her and show that she had.<p>

After that, his mother had confronted him when he had tried to go out for patrol and she had threatened to kick him out again - all and all, not the best end to the week. But to make amends to his own conscience, he had been sure to be up bright and early to go to the beach to see Adalyn for their first study session. He had felt more emasculated than he would ever admit when he found himself worrying over what he should wear and what he should be bringing with him.

As he headed toward the beach at nine, probably far too early in the morning, he couldn't help but start to berate himself. He should have thought this through a little better; for example, when he had said he'd had no idea what he was doing in chemistry, he'd really meant it. He didn't want her to think that he was stupid or even worse, he didn't want her to think he was faking his stupidity to spend more time with her - even if that wasn't that bad of an idea.

As he contemplated taking out his chemistry books and trying to cram before she arrived, he was surprised to see she was already there. She was seated on a beached log, looking away from him and towards the ocean, even though her eyes were trained onto a large book she held in her lap. He was surprised she was here so early and couldn't help but let his mind roam on the idea she might be as excited to see him as he was to see her - maybe she was so excited she'd come early to have the most time with him?

Doubtful, but he couldn't help letting his mind wander.

"Hi," he said quickly, the excitement more evident in his voice than he would have liked. He felt a little guilty when he saw her jump, but thought it was cute how her face darkened in embarrassment.

"I never would have thought one of you would be early," she mumbled to herself, shoving the large book of some complicated looking notes into the worn out bag on the other side of the log.

"'One of you'?" he repeated curiously, she looked at him levelly.

"Elite muscleheads, or beefcakes, if you prefer." It was a simple and honest answer, though Embry was shocked by the venom in her tone. He had learned over his many days of observation and his one time of talking to her that she didn't like to keep her thoughts to herself, but he didn't like how bitter they seemed toward him. She moved a little on the log to make room for him and though his heart tried to burst out of his chest, he miraculously managed to contain himself.

"So," he stated, the goofy smile unable to slide from his face while he sat beside her. "You think you can teach the thoughtless musclehead, huh?"

She gave a dry, almost sarcastic grin back. "I'm sure going to try."

And she did try, dutifully, to get Embry to understand everything. It was around this time he realized how right his mother may have been - he didn't remember learning anything that Adalyn was explaining to him and because of that she was quickly getting frustrated with him. To be fair, Embry found it easier to remember something as soon as Adalyn laid it out for him step-by-step, considering he was trying to memorize her voice and the inflection of her words as she spoke. Maybe he would get her to help teach all his subjects next year.

"So CaI2 would be...Calcium Io-no, wait…yes, Calcium Iodide?" He asked nervously, trying to get it right just so that she wouldn't be so flustered. He could tell that this was boring her, she seemed even more intelligent than she had let on in their chemistry practical, so when he said his answer she rolled her eyes he was sure to sprout out a quick "sorry".

"No, no you got it right. _Finally_." She emphasized, giving a sly little grin when he beamed at her. "You just need to remember the trends in the periodic table, literally it will give you all the answers for this course."

"And next year?" he pouted, knowing that though he was twenty times smarter than when he had stepped on the beach, he wasn't near ready for an exam this coming week.

"Next year starts to get more complicated," she admitted, though she grinned widely when she said it. Embry couldn't stop himself from frowning a little, if this was considered easy in comparison to next year perhaps he should opt out of taking it.

Then again, that would require not being in a class with Adalyn, which he knew would not happen. He had already started to devise ways to have their schedules match up perfectly.

"Study break," she said suddenly. When he looked ready to protest she shook her head. "It's as much for my sake as yours. You're _really _behind, you know. Soda?"

She cracked herself an Orange Crush and held one out to him. Orange Crush was usually not high up on his list of things to drink, but seeing her enjoying hers made it taste a little more refreshing than he remembered. He watched as she dug out the sand and stones a bit so she would have somewhere to hold the soda can while she pulled out the same book she had been reading when he had gotten there. From her backpack she had pulled a binder with papers falling everywhere, it was an organized kind of chaos that unnerved him slightly. As Embry watched carefully, he noted that the binder didn't seem to belong to her. It was far too disorganized, she seemed a little obsessive-compulsive from the notes he'd been seeing in their studying, and the print was messy whereas Adalyn's was usually just a little smudged - she was left-handed.

"What's that?"

"My father's college notes," she mumbled as she tried to locate a specific page.

"What was he in college for?" The size of the binder indicated something complicated as the binder said 'third year' but looked like all three years had been stuffed between the rings.

"He's a doctor," she muttered. "He doesn't do surgery anymore, though."

"Why are you reading his medical notes?" he asked cluelessly. The look she gave him was withering and not only made him feel embarrassed, but stupid. She looked down when she realized that he was sensitive towards her own lack of sensitivity.

"Because I want to be a surgeon," she explained, rifling through the pages again, just to give her something to do. He smiled while he watched her, her hands were very precise - she had pretty hands. Self manicured and stable, there was not a shake to them.

"You're smart enough for it," he offered cheerfully. She paused in her search to look at him suspiciously - it was clear she was not used to this kind of kindness or attention - before she turned her head back to her pages.

"Well, it takes more than smarts to be a doctor."

"What else does it take?"

"Patience. Dedication. Hard work. Resilience. Courage."

"That sounded like it was from a brochure," Embry couldn't help but snort. She looked up at him, almost annoyed with him before the hard glare in her eyes softened a tad and she gave a little bit of a smirk.

"Probably was," she shrugged. She went through her pages some more before she found the one she was looking for. Taking it out of the binder, she flipped a good fifty pages back in her father's notes to compare them to others he had written. He watched as she analyzed them closely, too enthralled to speak as he memorized all the little things she would never even know she did.

Like the crinkle between her eyebrow when she read; it was subtle but it was there, a sign of her complete concentration and determination to understand what is plainly written in front of her - then when she finally did, she would look pleased with herself before diving into something else. Then there was the twitching of her lips as she would try to repeat some of the more complicated words, he could only tell they were complicated because of her multiple attempts and the multiple syllables. And finally, there was the excitement as she read over the pages - Embry couldn't tell if she was excited to be reading it, or excited because she had thought of something and had been right, but Adalyn was _excited _to read her father's medical notes.

After too long of gawking at her, her eyes flickered to him. She glared at him suspiciously, but it wasn't intimidating enough to not notice that her cheeks had flushed. To hide this flush of skin, she turned around to shove the medical notes back in her bag and throw their chemistry textbook back toward him. She made sure to mumble out that he should make himself useful and study for the subject he was about to fail.

It was clear she could be sweet when she wasn't being so defensive.

"I don't know what to study, you're supposed to tell me." Embry reminded her. She looked up to the sky, almost in an aggravated prayer, before she pulled the book away from him. He got ready, knowing that she was testing him to ease her red cheeks.

"Draw me a Bohr-Rutherford diagram of Iron-two. Then, I want you to find me an element to complete it's rings of…" she trailed off, obviously waiting for him to answer the question she hadn't actually posed. She had told him this only two hours ago - he had to remember, but what had it been? When they were talking about Bohr-Rutherford diagrams she had been raking through her hair with her fingers. It had been so distracting to him, even though he found that she did it in a rhythm with her words. Something about electrons and _shells…_

"Electrons?" He asked nervously. Then, it happened. Adalyn grinned. It wasn't a full-toothed smile like Embry was always praying to see, but it was certainly a grin; and it was directed right at him.

"Right," she grinned. "And what charge is Iron-two?"

"It has two extra electrons on it's outer shell?" Her eyebrows raised.

"You called it a shell," she observed. He looked nervous.

"Why, is that wrong? I'm sorry, I'm really trying to pay attention to you-"

"No, no, that's perfect. Shell's the right word," she looked confused for a moment, though her cheeks were noticeably darkening again. "Neenam never really uses it until next year, though…so you remember that only from listening to me…."

Embry flushed, for some reason when she said that it sounded like an accusation. Of course he remembered it from her, how could he not try to retain every bit of information she could ever say to him? It could be about astrophysics and Embry would still listen dumbly and intently, just to hear what she had to say about it.

"It's hard not to listen to you," he mumbled.

"Right," she was immediately awkward, clearing her throat and - terrifyingly - moving a little bit farther away from him on the log. She looked to the elemental table in his hands and pointed to the 'Fe' square, which he remembered to be the scientific symbol for iron. "So, if iron-two has two extra electrons and you want to complete it's shell by using another element, what other element would work and would you rip it's electrons off it, or hand off your extra two electrons from your outer shell?"

"Uh, well, it'd be an ionic bond, wouldn't it? So I'd take them," he said uncertainly. He continued when she grinned. "And it would have to be something with six electrons, right? So…maybe…uh…oxygen?"

"Right!" She actually jumped a little happily in her seat. "Oh thank god, I thought you were never going to get it!"

He wished he would have gotten it sooner, her excitement was contagious and it made him wish he had learned faster so that he would have been able to see her reaction hours ago. She pointed to the paper that had been sitting in his lap. "Now draw it."

By the end of another hour, he had decided that Bohr-Rutherford diagrams were the most exhausting thing to do and he still didn't understand how something changing colour was a physical change and not a chemical one - or shit, was it a chemical change? - but he was still much more intelligent than when he had gotten there that morning.

Adalyn sent him a grin when he finished explaining to her the connection in each column of elements, nodding as enthusiastically as he had seen her all morning, before she began slouching a bit more on the log.

"I think that's enough for one day, how about you?"

"I think I'm all learned out for the day," he agreed, though he desperately wasn't ready to leave her side. They sat there for a moment, both lost in their own worlds, before Embry realized that she wasn't excited to leave either. He wasn't sure whether or not it was because of him being there or because she didn't have anywhere else she wanted to be, but he was glad that she felt comfortable enough to stay with him instead of running off to be alone.

"So…" he began slowly, unable to keep himself from panicking slightly. What did normal imprinters talk to their imprintees about? Usually there some common ground with each pairing - Sam and Emily could talk about Leah, as twisted as that was, and Jared and Kim could talk about school - but now that they had already talked about school, what was there to talk about?

"How are you doing on your other subjects?" She started for him. Ah, apparently school _was _still a topic of conversation. This pleased him, he could talk about the monotony that was school for hours.

"English isn't going well, at all, but I've got maths, gym, tech and a study hall other than that. Luckily I'm good with numbers."

"Thank the heavens," she grinned. "Because tomorrow's study period will be all about formulas. Good to know you'll be able to keep up. What's so difficult about English, who do you have?"

"Packson," he frowned. "She's great and all, but she's all Shakespeare based so I'm totally lost on my essay."

"Comparison essay?" she almost scoffed at him. "Embry, that's the easiest thing in the world, it's just like a formula!"

He almost felt embarrassed by how he reacted when she had said his name. It was an immediate, jaw-dropping sensation that had worked it's way into a shiver. He shrugged his shoulders towards her, face flaming.

"Well, I'm no good at it. Do you know anything about Hamlet?" he laughed as she rolled her eyes to the question. "Okay, okay! Well, would you be willing to help me out with that, too?"

"You know, I'm doing a lot of work for free here. The least you could do is buy me ice cream." She winked at him jokingly, but it was so sexy that he was dazed for a moment. Who would have thought Adalyn, sarcastic and bitter Adalyn, could have just looked so sexy? Maybe she wasn't looking for someone she could baby - maybe she was looking for a charmer…because even though Addie didn't realize that's what she was doing so well, she was _completely _charming him into submission. And maybe that kind of charm would be the key to making her smile and blush more for him.

Then, as he realized what she had actually just said to him, he took the time to try not to admonish himself too noticeably - _he _should have been the one to think about offering to take her out for ice cream.

"Ice cream I can do," he smiled. "How about now?"

Her eyes widened a bit, not having expected her powers or persuasion to have worked on him, before taking the time to look at the beach around them. Very few people were there to notice their flirty interactions, but Embry could tell that they were still too many for her own nerve. He frowned.

"It's just ice cream, Adalyn. You can eat ice cream with a friend, can't you?"

Her nervous eyes turned to him then, wide and innocent in a way that he was not used to seeing them. She actually looked _shocked _to hear the words from him.

"Friends?" She repeated. "You'd want to be friends with…with me?"

"Don't sound so amazed," he offered jokingly, trying to make light of her shock, but she didn't seem to be pulled from her daze. He was amazed with how simple it was for him to fall into that charm that she had just done to him - maybe this was some imprinter's secret power no one had thought to explain to him.

"I _am _amazed…" she whispered, looking down at her hands. He could hear her heart beating hecticly in her chest - was she _nervous _of him? "Embry, I don't have a lot of friends…"

"So?" It was almost immediate that her nervousness began rubbing off on him. Was she about to shut him down? Was she about to tell him that she wasn't interested like she had said she was in the forest, or that she wasn't looking for a relationship? God, that would be the worst - every imprinter says that they'll be whatever their imprintee wants, which is true, but all the imprinter really wanted for himself was a relationship.

"Don't you ever ask why?" she asked him, a bitterness in her tone that he had not heard all day, but recognized it from the party on Friday. It was a deep bitterness, the same anger that darkened her eyes with sorrow. "Don't you think there might be a reason I have no friends?"

"Does it matter?" he asked, trying to catch her eyes. He heard a terribly sarcastic snort before her eyes met his again - they were hooded in the same bitterness that coated her voice.

"For an elite beefcake who is flirting with his tutor to ensure he learns enough and she'll come back tomorrow?" Ah, there was that bluntness he had grown to associate with her in just a short week. "Of course it matters."

"Well, it doesn't to me." he said strongly. She seemed to nod a little to herself, as if reminding herself of something that she didn't know already. While nodding, she turned her eyes back down to her hands that were wringing themselves nervously in her lap. "And for the record, this 'elite beefcake' happens to _like _his tutor, and _that's _why he's flirting with her."

Her eyes snapped back up to his, a surprise in them that was flattering in itself. He could hear her heart stuttering nervously, feel her nervous energy as she watched him warily. She watched him closely for a long time, so long that Embry had begun to worry what she was thinking - she didn't really doubt him, did she? Could she not see how he was looking at her, how much it took for him to stay this two feet away?

"You _like _me?" she repeated at last. He couldn't help but smile.

"I like you." he affirmed, watching as a smile spread over her face.

A _real _smile_._ It was a big smile too, not some cheeky grin that was used to hide how much she actually felt about something and there was nothing mocking about it. It was bright and beaming - it took up almost too much of her face and looked unnatural, it was obvious that Adalyn didn't have much practice in smiling like this very often.

"Are you insane?" she asked, though her smile didn't falter at all. "Someone like you should never like someone like me."

"Then I must be bat-shit crazy."

She dipped her head, trying to hide the flare of colour that was rising to her cheeks. She smiled to herself for a moment, before she quickly turned and started packing her bag, smile still in place. He started to pull his books toward her before she looked back around to him and shook her head, jumping up from the log.

"I have to go, ice cream will have to wait until tomorrow."

"But-" dammit! What had he done wrong? She still seemed really happy, true, and she was still smiling for god's sake so why would she leave now?

"It's not fair you know," she explained as she whipped her bag over her shoulder. "You shouldn't be able to charm someone like _me _like you just did."

"Someone like you?" he choked nervously.

"A romantic," she blushed, raking her hands through her hair to distract herself from the blush he could see, again, blooming across her face.

"You're a romantic?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed. How the hell did a guy deal with a _romantic_?

"Devastatingly," she tried hard to hide her smile. "I'm also devastatingly single - always have been, so I'm going to go now…_before _I make a fool of myself…other than my ranting - I rant a lot." She took a deep breath. "I'll come back tomorrow and hopefully have gotten the rundown on how to deal with elite beefcakes."

"I'm still an elite beefcake?" he asked with a small frown.

"A very _attractive _elite beefcake who has completely caught me off guard. I clearly need a rundown on boys and being girly and seducing attractive men and…and… well, a general rundown on _everything_."

Embry couldn't keep himself from laughing. Was it really _him _that was making her that nervous? Since when had he had this talent with girls? "You don't need to have a rundown on how to talk to boys. You're doing fine - it's cute."

"No," she smiled, backing away from him through the sand. "I'm going to go now. Get some tips from Jess. Maybe write this in a diary or something so that I know it really happened tomorrow."

"You don't have to, you know." He called out to her, but she laughed before spinning in the sand and sprinting away - she was faster than she looked, she had very long legs.

"Yes I do!" She called back. He shook his head slightly, looking around at the people who speckled the beach. No one had even looked in their direction - these few people had made Adalyn nervous?

His words had made Adalyn nervous?

And she was a romantic…what did that mean? She liked flowers and chocolates and romance novels? Or did she just like attention? What _exactly _did that mean and how the hell was someone like _him _supposed to deal with that? He didn't read romance novels, or know flowers, and the only thing he knew about chocolates were that he liked to eat them. A lot.

What the hell did he do now?

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><p><strong>Kinda cute, wasn't it? And yes, I know that I moved things a little quickly there - but there is a reason for that and I promise that it will be explained in the next chapter. I know, only chapter three and she's not playing hard to get? I have a method to my madness, so please don't hate me for it!<strong>

**To my wonderful reviewers:**

SundaySolis**: Yes, her parents are definitely creepy and that will be elaborated on a little bit more in the next chapter - but it is one of Adalyn's secrets for now! Thank you for reviewing and hope you liked the update :)**

KuroOkamii77**: Sigh, you just said I have everything flowing at a smooth pace and then I rush things a little bit - please bear with me, the next update will not take so long and it will explain more then. Promise! Thanks for the review.**

PrincessK16**: I'm glad you're liking it, hopefully you enjoyed this chapter too :) Thank you for reviewing!**

Angel of the Night Watchers**: Of course he is, it's Embry! But I think he's pretty sweet - I quite liked making him ask 'what's a romantic?' oh this boy is in for a hard time. And I will send you the next GEM chapter tonight, I just wanted to get this out since I promised it two days ago! **

starfield121**: Oh, heart wrenching is the nicest way of putting it, it will be devastating, but it will be devastating in a beautiful way…I think…oh well, I guess you'll have to read and decide for yourself! Thanks for reviewing :)**

moani-sama**: Thanks for the review, and he is a silly boy, isn't he? So clueless sometimes. Oh well, I like his innocence in comparison to my Jacob stories, hopefully you like it too!**

**Well, I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you think with a REVIEW!**

**-Egypt**


	5. Beefcake and Ice Cream

**So, this story is starting to flow again. I'm sorry that it hasn't been updated in a while, but now I think I have the path for this set out and you will never have to wait so long for this story again! In fact, I have another chapter pretty much ready now :) Thanks go out to **_Angel of the Night Watchers_** for being amazing and editing the mound of chapters I sent to her today!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter Four: Beefcake and Ice Cream<p>

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><p>"You <em>ran away<em>? There's got to be something wrong with you!" Jessica bellowed, flailing her arms about again while she followed aimlessly behind her cousin. Adalyn was barely paying attention to her eccentric hand movements, but was trying to pay as much attention to the conversation as possible - even with the distraction of the camera in her hand.

"I didn't want to ruin anything," she defended, looking around the dripping foliage before finding a particularly nice flower that she knew she could find a good shot from. She began testing angles so that she could get the best effects of the rain. "I don't know how to talk to boys. Before now, I thought he just wanted to study, not take me out for ice cream."

"Ice cream? That's so cute!" Jess squealed. "Who would have thought: Embry Call is cute. I just thought he was a hot beefcake."

"I called him that, actually," Adalyn said calmly as she shot a few pictures. "Apparently the Steroid Gang doesn't know what people say about them; he seemed pretty shocked."

"Well, duh," Jess blinked. "That's because people are too afraid to say something like that to their faces. Jesus, Addie, that mouth is going to get you in trouble someday."

"Someday," Adalyn agreed sarcastically, knowing that each time she decided to speak to someone she was digging herself into a deeper hole within her negative reputation.

"What are we doing out here anyway? You can take pictures for the paper any time. You should be sorting out your outfit for tomorrow." Jess sighed. Adalyn shook her head, going toward an oak tree and testing the bark in her lens. She could create a really good picture if she focused on that water droplet running down the bark and had all the green blurred behind it.

"Is that what people do?" Adalyn asked with a frown, looking down at her jeans and brown sweater. "Why can't I just wear what I always wear?"

"Because this is Embry Call, Addie! You can't just wear what you always wear for someone like Embry Call! He expects you to look good beside him. He has a reputation to uphold."

"I don't think he's like that," she said simply, taking a few shots before she moved on to find her next shot. The local newspaper had called her just today and asked her to find a couple shots for tomorrow's front page: apparently there was going to be almost a week of pure sunshine and they wanted to show the wetness of today so that they could have a contrasting piece when the drought ended.

"Oh, so you're an expert on him now?" Jessica asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at her cousin's defensive manner while Addie just shrugged. She didn't usually defend people she didn't know - this was a good sign.

"I'm not an expert, no, but he just didn't strike me that way. He seemed really sweet...genuine. I don't think that he cares about what someone wears."

"Well everyone cares about what someone _doesn't _wear," Jessica hinted with a suggestive wink. "You need to show off some skin - impress the man! The right outfit will do just that, so why don't we-"

"Danielle and Jordan are home," Adalyn said quietly, bending down to take a picture of the rain clinging to the grass. "I have to wait until it's dark."

The statement shut Jessica up quickly. She didn't say anything, in her experience she knew that Adalyn hated it when she did. It was ridiculous that her cousin didn't feel comfortable going home when her parents were there as well, but no matter how much Jess and her parents had tried holding interventions, it had never seemed to work.

"What are you going to do for dinner?" Jessica found herself asking nervously. It was only half past three and she knew from experience that Adalyn had been at the beach before her parents had even woken for the day. Knowing her, she had yet to have any food for the day.

"I'll probably go get something from Forks diner, see if I can hitch a ride. If I can't, I'll just go to the corner store, I've been craving nachos..." Jessica knew it was a lie. Not only would Adalyn never dare to hitchhike, but she hated nachos from the corner store. She had always said that the cheese was too processed for her.

"Or," Jessica offered sarcastically. "You could come home with me. We're having roast beef tonight, not to mention that you still need the lowdown on how to talk on this little date of yours...we don't want you just talking about school the whole time."

Adalyn tried to hide her red face behind her camera again. "It won't be _that _bad."

"You're right, it won't be. Not after Cosmo and I are done with you anyway."

"Cosmo?" Adalyn asked, turning around to face Jessica confusingly.

"Cosmopolitan, the magazine. You _are _a noob. It has all you need to know on dealing with the male gender and I have all you need when it comes to looking like you're more confident than you are. Which you need. Desperately."

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><p>Adalyn had never felt more uncomfortable in her own skin. She lived her life almost constantly feeling uncomfortable, but today was worse than most others. This was Jessica's argument though, that she should be used to feeling uncomfortable and just take comfort that she looked 'hot as hell'. Adalyn was just nervous that Jess had sent her into the unknown in a monkeysuit. Today, she didn't even feel like <em>Adalyn.<em>

"You're doing it again," Embry warned with a smile, while they walked toward the store window so they could order ice cream cones. Adalyn let out a small pout, one that Embry was sure she didn't even realize she'd done, before she pulled her hands away from the hem of her skirt and began fidgeting with her fingers instead.

She didn't know about Embry, was glad that they were on the 'date' portion of their day - even if she was nervous as all hell. It had been a long day of studying and poor boy - who today she had decided was smart enough, he'd just missed a lot of class - he had been put through a lot of material in one day. It had frustrated her to no end, as she hated playing teacher. She had never wanted to be in charge of other people. She didn't like slowing down for them - that included slowing down so she could teach them how to get to her level. She didn't have the patience for muscleheads or even elite beefcakes like the Steroid Gang. Even though she was sure Embry's keen intent to listen to her - and admittedly how _fine _of a musclehead he was - was one of the reasons she had been able to suffer through the day.

"What kind of ice cream do you like most?" Embry asked, noticing that while she was looking at the list of flavours she was fiddling with the skirt again. Embry knew that he had Adalyn's cousin to thank for her little get-up: a cute black cotton dress with some dark blue design on it and matching blue flats to finish the outfit. Adalyn was even wearing makeup, flawlessly applied but not at all what made her Adalyn.

He had told her she looked nice, which she did, but he wasn't really sold on the outfit. She clearly wasn't comfortable in it and if Adalyn wasn't comfortable then he wasn't happy.

"Normally I'm a mint chocolate-chip kind of girl," she explained without looking at him. "But I'm not really in that kind of mood today."

"What kind of mood are you in today?" he asked with a smile. He liked learning new things about her, even if it was something as trivial as her favourite ice cream flavour.

"I'm thinking tiger stripe," she hummed, still unsure of her choice. Embry almost snorted at her choice before he thought better of it, he didn't want to upset her by making a crack on her ice cream choice. Adalyn was the kind of girl who would let nothing get under her skin and at the same time he could tell that everything got under her skin when she wasn't looking. Something simple like that would not upset her, per se, but it would certainly make her rethink her decision subconsciously every time she had to make this choice again.

"You like black licorice?"

"Don't you?" Embry shrugged his shoulders, she almost laughed. "Ah, that's a 'no'. It's alright, I know most people don't like it. I don't like dark chocolate, so it levels out."

"How can you not like dark chocolate?"

"It's too bitter. I like milk chocolate, though."

A younger teen, a freshmen going into her first exams, came to the window still holding a pink school binder. She barely seemed able to pull her face away from the notes, but put them away as soon as she realized it was Embry at the window.

"Hi!" she smiled perkily, eyes only on Embry. "I'm Nancy, what can I get for you today?"

"Hey, Nancy. Could we get a large - and I mean super large - oreo cone and a...what size did you want, Addie?"

Adalyn felt her face flush up immediately, though Embry had called her 'Addie' yesterday, she'd never had a boy call her that when it wasn't meant as a taunt. The girl, who suddenly seemed to notice that there was someone else besides the attractive beefcake, immediately looked put out.

"Just a small," Embry looked so insulted that she would eat so little that she cleared her throat. "I meant a medium."

With a smile, Embry made sure to pay for both cones. Even though Nancy had obviously figured out the tall boy wasn't interested, she was still sure to give him more ice cream than Adalyn thought was possible to pile on a cone. She was even more shocked when she saw how fast Embry downed it. He looked sheepish when she saw him looking.

"Don't you get brain freeze?"

"I'm too warm for brain freeze," he laughed slightly. "Sorry for creeping you out."

"It didn't creep me out so much as it confused me," she laughed. Embry couldn't help but smile just at the sound of it. "I think I'll get over it."

"Cool," he shoved his hands in his pockets. "So...wanna walk while you finish that?"

"Sounds good," Adalyn said quickly. She didn't mean to sound nervous but now that he was done his ice cream it meant that it was back to full-date-mode again and the thought of it just made her feel more awkward. At least if they were walking she would have something to preoccupy her mind.

They started walking back toward the beach, Embry watched as she slipped her shoes off. At first he wanted to warn her to remember there were more rocks here than there was sand and he didn't want her to cut her feet. Then he realized that Adalyn seemed very content with it, so she must have done this often. Instead of admonishing her, he took the ballet flats from her so that she could eat her ice cream cone and control the streaks melting down her hand.

"Well at least you're not playing with your skirt anymore," Embry laughed while she had to lick up another streak of orange that had dripped down her wrist.

"It's a nervous twitch," Adalyn responded. "I can't help it. I don't wear dresses."

"Never?"

"Rarely," she amended with a shrug. "I've never been on a date before, either."

"Really?"

"Do I look like the kind of girl who goes on dates, Embry?" she asked sardonically. Embry wanted to ask why she didn't, but considering how she had responded about having no friends yesterday, he could only guess that the response would be the same.

"I think you do," he responded with a shrug. She tried not to smile, licking at her ice cream cone again. She tried to ignore everything that Jessica had said: play coy, be aloof, be mysterious, don't fall for his tricks, remember men only want one thing, don't ramble, don't talk about being a nerd, don't talk about taking pictures, don't ask him if he takes steroids...she said that last one multiple times.

"Are you nervous about exams?"

"No, the notes we made should at least let me pass." Embry said. "Thanks, by the way. Ice cream definitely isn't enough payment for how much you saved me. You pretty much gave me my thesis for English."

"Well, I could tell you were worried and I actually kind of like exams, so I'm not feeling any stress anyway." She almost swore out loud. Jessica had specifically told her not to mention nerdy things like liking exams and here she goes just admitting it freely! She could already hear Jessica picking apart every single moment of this date and how she would begin explaining how the reason Embry would never ask for a second date was because of that comment, right there.

"You _like _exams?"

"Uh..." _I am such a moron_. "Yeah, kind of..."

"Wow," she wanted to wince as he said it, but instead he turned the comment around in the other direction. "I wish I was smart enough to like exams. They just spell bad news for me."

Adalyn analyzed him for a long moment, taking the last bite of her ice cream cone and judging him as she chewed. Was he really being sincere? It was too good to be true, someone like him being so sweet to someone like her. She was bad news, damaged goods - he was an Adonis, a popular deity...how could the two of them ever live in the same world?

But Embry seemed completely sincere. The way he was looking at her, so intense, was just too vulnerable to be an act - wasn't it? Adalyn had no experience with dates or boys, she knew nothing about how someone could be played or how someone could be loved. Adalyn had never been loved in her entire life, how could she ever compare experiences and learn from past mistakes when she'd never had the chance to mess up until now? Because until right now she had never been near something so great that it was too great to be possible - how had it finally come her way?

"Are you for real?" she asked blatantly, making Embry blink before he laughed at her. She felt almost insulted by it before she realized how little he really knew of her - he had yet to be used to these outbursts. "Seriously, though. It's not possible for someone like you to be this sweet."

"You keep saying 'someone like me'," he began warily, slowing down his steps so that she could keep up with him. Adalyn was tall compared to the other wolves imprints, but she was not tall enough to keep up with his long strides.

"And I mean it. We come from totally different plains, Embry. It's not a bad thing, it's closer to sad - despite how much I lay things as they are, you will never understand my world. And I won't understand yours."

Embry turned around to look at her, stopping her in her tracks as she turned to look at him fully. He watched her for a long moment, digging his hands deeper in his pockets as he fought back everything he wanted to say to her - everything he wanted to _do _to her - everything he wanted to do to comfort her or hold her or...well, a few more scandalous things passed his mind. He tried to hide how warm his face was getting by turning away from her as he spoke.

"I love that, though." He couldn't stop himself from saying. "It sounds stupid, but I admire that about you."

She blinked, looking at him like he had gone insane. To be fair, he probably had to have asked her out on a date in the first place. "You admire what, exactly? That I'm a nerd and you're a jock and our paths only actually cross when I tutor you in private?"

"No," he shook his head. "I love how real you are. You're the most honest person I've ever met, ever _heard _of. Everyone has secrets, everyone lives in some sort of lie they make for themselves - everyone...except you. You just live in the moment, live with the facts. I don't know how to say it properly, but you're - you're the _truest _person I've ever met. You're just true to everyone; including yourself."

Adalyn felt her face burn like a wildfire as she picked up a pebble just to distract herself. She rolled the damp pebble around in her hands before pocketing it into the pocket of Jessica's dress. She wasn't true to herself at all - right now she was really just being true to her cousin's rules. For instance, what she wanted to do right now was talk about how this pebble was infused with every colour of the rainbow. How she wanted to go home and show him the kind of pictures and camera affects she could use to bring out the shades and the layers. But, she wasn't being honest with herself. Because she wasn't allowed to talk about photographs. Jessica's voice was still ringing in her head, replaying over and over not to talk about pictures and not to dare bring her camera on this date - 'you'll just end up ignoring him when you find some damn cloud that's shaped like a bunny' she had said.

"You're giving me too much credit."

"That's just it, I don't think I am." Embry took a step towards her, surprised when she didn't pull away from him. "I want to prove it to you. Give me time to prove it this summer."

"Summer?" Adalyn repeated, blanching nervously. "Embry-"

"I know it sounds ridiculous and I know people don't think that romance should happen so fast but...you said you were a romantic. Give into those ideas, just once. Just one chance: it's all I need to be a romantic, I swear."

"No, Embry, it's not that." Addie shook her head with a frown. "I'm leaving this summer."

Embry's entire body seemed to collapse in on itself. Somehow, he remained standing, but he could feel - just as Adalyn could see - that he was crumpled by the news. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah, until August. I go almost every summer, just to Seattle to stay with my aunt." She explained nervously, because for some odd reason she felt that she owed him an explanation after he had just bore his soul and asked her for a chance. One that, surprisingly, she found herself a little too willing to give him. "I leave the week after exams."

"You'll be gone for a month," he breathed.

"Yes, until Jessica's birthday." When she saw that Embry was about to ask for specifics she was sure to add, "her birthday is August 9th."

"I won't be able to see you at all?"

Adalyn blinked. "You _want _to see me?"

"Want is the worst word for it, to be honest I was steering more toward 'need' but thought it'd freak you out." Embry's blunt honesty actually made Adalyn laugh - which shocked him. He watched as it happened as if it were in slow motion: there it was. A laugh that he had never before seen from her with that smile he had only seen once, the smile that lit up her eyes and was too big for her face.

"Embry, it's only a month."

"A really long month," Embry wheezed out as if he was recovering from being punched in the gut. "I don't know if I can go a month."

"Well, we could still talk. Text, email, Facebook..."

"I don't have a phone," Embry frowned. "But...yeah, I mean, I guess I could."

"See? A month won't be so bad." Adalyn tried to be encouraging but was surprised by how upset he actually seemed by the news. He had only known that she existed for the past week since she had bitched him out in chemistry - so why was he suddenly so forlorn about not seeing her?

"But- I just wish you didn't have to." He was pouting like a little kid, he knew he was, but he couldn't help it. It was consuming him, the idea that she wouldn't be near him. Who knew what kind of things could happen when he wasn't there to protect her? And he didn't have the resources to follow her to Seattle. There were no forests to hide in as a wolf, there were no friends he could stay with, he didn't have the money to go to a hotel, and he didn't have the freedom to leave patrol for a whole month now that Jake was gone.

But how could he just let her go for so long?

"It's just...why do you have to leave?" He couldn't help ask, he knew Adalyn probably wouldn't answer him - as true of a person as she was, she did not trust him yet. Instead, he got more of an honest answer than he expected.

"I'm leaving because my parents hate me," Adalyn said simply.

Embry fought the almost uncontrollable urge to comfort her, to say anything, to argue with her because suddenly he didn't think it would help. He didn't think anything he could say to contradict it would be true.

His memory brought him quickly back to the one interaction he had ever seen between Adalyn and her parents and he remembered the cold, barrenness in their eyes. It had upset him, thinking about how cold they could have been to his imprint, but now that she had said that they hated her it completely made sense. Adalyn's parents _did _hate her. And that is why she had to leave.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked quietly, afraid of the answer. He didn't want to know how much she was hurting but at the same time there was no way that he would be able to live without trying to help her through it. And Embry knew that he couldn't help what he didn't know, it was like trying to play cards with a pair of dice.

"It's not undeserved," she shrugged. "I kind'a hate them too."

"You don't deserve to be hated," he argued immediately. "I would never hate you."

Adalyn looked up at him at last, grinning that sad grin that she always seemed to be able to smear across her face for good measure. It saddened him to see the origin of it, to see that it stemmed from a pain so fresh that she had to be burdened by it every single day.

"Embry, you don't know me enough to make that decision yet. And when you do make it, I won't blame you if you side with the rest of the world."

"Never," Embry whispered, unable to stop himself from grabbing her and holding her with all the restraint that he had...he tried to restrain himself from falling into her arms, from begging her to spend the rest of his life with him - it was harder than he had thought it would be according to the other wolves that had imprinted. It took a long moment before she returned the hug, she obviously wasn't used to this kind of affection. This almost made Embry upset - was she really that displaced at home?

Adalyn took a long moment before she frowned, unsure of how to get out of a hug that was so emotive. She cleared her throat quietly before ungracefully shrugging out of his grip and giving him a sad grin.

"I might like you too much to let you stick around to find out."

* * *

><p><strong>Well, what did you think? Cute, lame? Why don't you tell me in a <strong>_**REVIEW**__**?**_

_Happy2BeeMe_**: I'm glad you like how awkward Embry and Adalyn (particularly Adalyn) can be - I think that's how most relationships start out. For me, anyway. Then again, I can be pretty awkward. I hope you liked this chapter and thank you for sticking with me!**

_Angel of the Night Watchers_**: Can we talk about how amazing you are? I can't believe that you read through all those chapters so fast - I have three more for you as well (one GEM, one ABA, and one SH), can I send them to you? I'm on a roll, which is very nice. I'm also thinking of writing my own novel - I had this really good idea come to me in a dream (my best stories usually stem from dreams) and I wrote out a little skeleton for my boyfriend and my Mom and they are really pushing me to go for it. I'm a little apprehensive, but very excited - otherwise, nothing's really changed. What about things with you? As for your husband giving you Vampire Diaries spoilers? So uncool. The whole idea behind the series is the surprise! Oh well, how have you been liking it? Also I'm so glad you liked them, thank you so much for working with them all. I did kind of rewrite the beginning of the GEM chapter you just edited (mostly just added some things I thought sounded awkward and fixed the article), so when you see it don't think I didn't use what you edited! **

_Veronica_**: I'm sorry you had to go reread, but I promise that I'm back on track. Thank you for the review :)**

**Alright. I'm back on track, have more chapters, and will be releasing a chapter for one of my stories each day this week - including chapters for a new Vampire Diaries story, so look out for that if you like that fandom! Please review :)**

**-Egypt**


	6. Influences

**Hello everyone! Here's another update for you. Thank you so much for reading and getting back into this with me. I'm already working on the next chapter - I told you, I'm not falling behind on this story again :) I hope that you all enjoy the awkwardness and cuteness that is Embry and Adalyn!**

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><p><span>Chapter Five: Influences<span>

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><p>"Well, Adalyn's certainly a good influence on you," Emily grinned over her shoulder. She turned the corner and led Embry into the kitchen so that he could take a well-deserved rest after he had finished painting the baby's room. Who knew Paul would be right and mustard yellow really <em>would <em>be such a bad colour? As soon as Seth had painted the room that weekend, Sam and Emily had commissioned Embry to paint over it and change it to a nice, deep red.

"She a genius. I really think I beat that exam, Em. I mean, I didn't ace it, but I definitely passed." He couldn't help smiling to himself as he threw one of Emily's fresh muffins into his mouth. He couldn't help but keep smiling at the thought of Adalyn and his past few days together. How could he have gotten so lucky? Now that he'd passed this exam his mother wouldn't be able to kick him out, not to mention he had found his imprint and got to spend time with her to make that happen. It was such a comedy of errors that he almost didn't believe that it would all work out so well.

"And why aren't you on your knees, grovelling your thank yous?" Emily asked with a smile, leaning down into the chair opposite him, holding her belly to support the weight of it. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the bundle.

"Why aren't _you_ ready to pop yet? Holy crow, you're as big around as I am tall."

"He's just going to be tall, like his daddy." She patted her belly as affectionately as she would have pet a puppy. "But I wouldn't be surprised if I'm early - I feel like a whale."

"I wouldn't go as far to say _whale_, but..." he trailed off jokingly, only to get hit in the head as Sam came from behind him to go and kiss his fiancée. Embry rubbed the spot on his head that was now sore before grabbing another muffin right from under Sam's hand.

"Still no word from Jake?" It was the worst thing he could have started a conversation with, but he couldn't help but ask. Of course he had finally found his imprint and his best friend wasn't around to be there to help him. Then again, even if Jake were around that love-drunk idiot would be too pissy to put up with it. For someone who was 'so in love' and thought that he deserved it, Jake was pretty judgmental when other people finally got the chance he was waiting for.

"Not anything worth listening to," Sam said sadly, kissing his fiancée again before he began heading back out to the yard. "Leah isn't happy about the shift change, by the way."

"Shift change?" Emily asked innocently.

"Yeah, I switched the times for all my shifts with her this week. Addie's leaving next Tuesday for Seattle and she'll be gone for the month - I want to get as much time in with her as I can. Can't do that on afternoon patrol."

"Oh, Embry!" Emily looked shattered, reaching her hand across the table to lay it across his. "I'm so sorry. A whole month?"

"Yeah," he let himself deflate, now that he knew that other people felt it was a big deal too. If Emily thought that, at least he knew that this wasn't something that he was just exaggerating in his head. "I only found out on Sunday. I spent as much time with her as I could up to exams, but she doesn't like opening up for me."

"She's moving faster than the other imprints did," Sam reminded him from the other room. He took his time speaking to Embry while pulling his shirt off and toeing off his shoes. "She's accepting you, even if she's having trouble trusting you. By the look of the girl, I'd say she doesn't trust many people - you're lucky the pull is strong enough for her to give in as easily as she has been."

"I know," Embry sighed, trying not to think too much on his words. Was it really just the pull that was getting her to trust him so soon into the weeks that would amount to their whole lives? It was obvious that Embry was trying, she'd accused him of being too nosy a couple of times, but all those things that she told him - was it because of her blatant honest or the gravitational pull of the imprint? Is it possible that none of the things he was doing made any difference, anyway?

"Besides, you don't want to open up to each other too quickly." Sam continued, talking slowly to make sure that Embry was paying attention even though he could see the boy was lost in his own thoughts. "She has to be ready when the time comes for her to hear about the wolves. The faster you two move, the longer you'll have to lie to her until you feel like she's ready to know." Sam reminded, shooting a glance toward Emily that was heavily focused on her scars, before frowning to himself and stomping out the front door.

"Right," Embry muttered at Sam's back, before turning back to Emily who had donned a comforting smile. "But I still don't want her to leave."

"Of course not," she soothed, passing him another muffin. Emily _must_ have felt bad for him, she never willingly let him eat this many - usually he was forced to share. "What will you do while she's gone?"

"Well, Billy offered to give me Jake's cell. He doesn't really need it now that he's on the run and I promised him I'd pay for the minutes I used - so I'll get to talk to her with that. She wants to send emails, too. Something tells me that she likes stories and stuff, maybe that's why she wants to read whatever the hell I'll have to make up. I think I'm going to watch a whole bunch of romance movies to see what guys on those do - _do_ they write letters? Or do they send flowers? Damnit, I don't know. I just know I can't let her stop thinking about me when she's gone. I mean, what if the pull of the imprint doesn't work when she's that far away for that long? I don't want to lose her to the city - I can't live in the city."

"Does she go there often?" Emily asked, watching as he pushed the rest of the muffin into his mouth. They were both quiet while he chewed, Emily moving back to rubbing her stomach again.

"She said she's been doing it every summer for the past four years, to stay with her aunt." He responded once the muffin was done. Now he moved to examine his hands, which had a few smears of red paint over them. He licked his hand and tried to rub it off.

"Oh," Emily nodded knowingly.

"'Oh' what?"

"Embry, she's been going for _four_ years..." Emily repeated slowly. He could tell he was supposed to get something more from that, but he couldn't tell what she was actually saying to him. "Four years? Embry, that's when Lily died."

"Oh!" he gasped, thinking the numbers through in his head. Well, at least that was one mini-mystery of Adalyn Greene solved. And no wonder she wasn't even acknowledging his begs to stay, she needed to go because it was her escape from where her sister had died. He found himself frowning a little bit anyway. "Still..."

"Still?"

"Still..." he could feel himself pouting, but he wasn't able to pull his lip back in his mouth. He felt like a toddler again, not allowed to go and play in the park because his mother said it's too dark even though all his friends were still there playing. "I just don't get why the imprint isn't strong enough to keep her here with me _anyway._"

"Embry Call!" Emily all but yelled at him. She seemed scandalized by the very words he had said and it made him look around nervously for an escape route. "You can't just go around saying something like that. Embry, her sister died! Of course she wants to get away from this town-"

Embry couldn't help but frown at her. A side of him wouldn't let the idea go that she _shouldn't _be able to get away from this town. She should feel the same need to stay that he feels for her to stay with him. That's how it should work, that's how it was _supposed _to work. Why did his imprint have to be different from everyone elses? Emily and Sam hadn't been able to deny it, even with Leah being in the picture. Kim and Jared were basically engaged the week after he imprinted on her. Paul and Rachel were going to be moving in together soon, even though they only _just _imprinted. Quil and Claire saw each other pretty much every single day...why was he the one who had to be challenged?

"Can you imagine living with those kinds of shadows lurking over your shoulders?" Emily asked him in a lower voice. It was still judgmental and even though he didn't agree with the fact that she was scolding him over being too in love, he suddenly felt sick at the idea of how Adalyn must have felt each and every day, having to stay here. "And what do you mean 'the imprint isn't strong enough'? The imprint only shows you that you were meant to be together - you are supposed to be the one to prove to her _why. _Are you really that lazy?"

"No-" he started.

"I am so disappointed in you!" she continued. "'Not strong enough'," she scoffed again. "I don't think you've ever been so ridiculous."

That was way worse than any of the times his mother had accused him of smoking dope.

"I'm sorry, alright?" he frowned, holding his hands up in the air and dragging his chair a little farther away from him. "I just don't like that the other guys get to keep their imprints with them the whole time and I have to suffer through all this crap. Jared didn't even have to _fight _for Kim, and Paul didn't have to fight anyone for Rach...okay, well, maybe he had to take a couple punches from Jake, but...but it's not fair!"

"Are you saying she's not worth fighting for?" Emily asked, not accusingly, but smugly. Embry barely had time to frown before he defended her.

"Of course she's worth fighting for!" He assured her loudly. Emily wasn't surprised and she didn't seem to mind the outburst. "I just don't like feeling like I'm failing at this."

Emily finally looked like she understood again, reaching out and grabbing his hand to comfort him like she had when she'd heard the news. He couldn't help flopping over the table and laying face down so she couldn't see his frustration.

"Maybe some things are stronger than love," she offered quietly. Embry couldn't help but scoff.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Like fear...loneliness...sadness; maybe trying to find love in the first place." Emily explained, sounding as wise as he had ever heard her. Even then, he couldn't help but groan.

"But _I _can love her. I _do_, already!"

"Yes, but _she _doesn't know that." Emily argued. "And someone who feels unloveable won't love you back easily. From what I've heard about Adalyn, she'll be the kind of person who restrains herself out of fear and selflessness."

"Selflessness?"

"Well, if - no, _when _- she begins loving you back, she'll keep away from you just because she loves you. She'll be selfless and let you go even when you don't want her to."

"But why would _anyone _do that, ever?" It didn't make sense, it didn't even sound sane - but Emily smiled almost dreamily.

"You say she likes romance? That's probably where she learned it. Romance novels and fluffy movies do that kind of thing all the time." She smiled.

"That's sick," he sneered, leaning back in his chair again. "Why would someone watch something that puts things like that in your head? That stuff just teaches you to hate yourself."

"I agree. But it's what we're taught. And she would do that because she was taught that it'd be better for you. People with demons don't want them to spread, Embry." Emily explained. He took a deep breath before nodding, leaning back in his chair to ingest all those ideas.

"So you're saying she'll never love me?"

"I'm saying she'll never want to let herself." Emily smiled widely. "But she will anyway."

* * *

><p>"I failed," Jessica announced as she met Adalyn outside of the classroom. Adalyn had taken a little bit longer for her exam, but in that twenty minutes Jess had gone to and come back from her visit to insanity. In that time, Jessica had grabbed them both sodas and wallowed in her disappointment.<p>

"Sorry to hear that," Adalyn felt no need to brag that she had done well. Not as well as some of her other subjects, but she knew she would come out of her maths class with a high-eighty or low-ninety percentage.

"I should have asked you to help me study," Jessica sighed. She took a moment before raising her eyebrow somewhat tauntingly. "Then again, the last thing I would have wanted would be to tear you away from your boyfriend."

"He is not my boyfriend," Adalyn argued lamely, as they shoved the doors to get out of the building. "We only went on the one date. It's not a big deal."

They both took a large gulp of the cool air that hit them when the doors opened. With a whoop, Jessica held up a hand to high-five Adalyn. "Done junior year, Addie. One more to go."

"One more," Adalyn agreed with a sigh. Without anymore hesitation, the girls started on their walk back home to Quileute street. "What are you up to today?"

"Mom's taking me up to see some of her Makah friends," Jess shrugged. "I think she's trying to set me up with Leslie's son, Thomas."

"Gross," Adalyn winced, only making Jess laugh.

"He's not _that _bad, we can't all date gods, Addie." Adalyn looked like she was about to argue again, but instead she laughed a bit and shook her head. "What about you? What are you up to?"

"I'm not sure," Adalyn looked around nervously. "I didn't really make plans."

"Well, you can come to the other rez with me if you want. Or, you could always just wait around until Embry comes to make plans with you." She waggled her eyebrows, but Adalyn frowned and turned her head foreward.

"Why does every conversation come back to Embry and I? And what do you mean 'until'? He hasn't made plans with me and there is no proof he will."

"Addie, you're blind." Jess rolled her eyes. "The boy falls all over himself to get to you. He's _obsessed_! Simone is ready to blow some blood vessels in her eyes every time she sees how he looks at you."

"Simone can just keep glaring, then." Addie couldn't help but smile slightly. "And I don't think he likes me _that _much. Now that his exams are over, I'm sure life will go back to the way it was."

"Give the kid some credit!" Jessica's eyes rolled. "He likes you. He likes you _a lot_. I don't even know how we didn't realize it earlier. I mean, the amount he likes you? It must have been building for _years. _He's the prince charming you've always dreamed about - so why won't you just let it happen?"

"Because he's Embry Call?" Addie supplied. "He's an elite musclehead who could have any girl he wanted and I'm just a girl who happens to be good in chemistry." She shrugged. "I don't think less of him for it, I understand."

"Addie, you like him." Jessica prodded, even though Adalyn didn't respond. "You like him so go after him - fight for yourself, for a change."

"Stop it," Addie whispered, picking up the pace.

"He does, Addie." Jessica said sternly. "And you need to realize it, 'cause he-"

"He doesn't like me, Jessica!" Adalyn yelled, turning angry eyes to her cousin.

Jessica stopped walking, looking at her with wide eyes. It was so rare to see Adalyn lose her cool, nowadays. She was so quiet and introverted that you always expected the time bomb to explode, but when it happened you couldn't help but watch. "He doesn't like me, he will never like me and I am happy not having to like him back. I'm going to Seattle for a month and I don't want to have to worry about it."

"You think he'll forget about you," Jessica realized with a sigh. "When you leave, you think he'll just give up on you."

She didn't look at Jessica as she started walking again. "Simone wants him. Simone always gets what she wants."

"Addie," Jessica whined. "Please don't do this. He's a good guy and if you could just - if...if you could only _see _the way he looks at you, Adalyn. In class, in the halls, everywhere. It's like-" she stopped herself, shaking her head. Jessica wanted to say that it was like he was in love with her, but that didn't make any sense.

Besides, if she said that Embry was in love with her, she didn't know how Adalyn would react. Addie was the biggest closet romantic she had ever met - she read Harlequin, she watched chick flicks, she was that girl who loved the fluttering feeling in her chest and went to bed each night hoping to dream about her knight in shining armour...but to hear that someone was in love with her? Something told Jess that it would end in some sort of mental breakdown.

"You like him," Jessica said again. "Just let him like you back."

"Hello, ladies." Embry's voice, so suddenly breaking up the conversation, made both the girls shoot a foot in the air and scream. He laughed at them a little before squeezing in between them, slowing down to their pace.

"Speak of the devil," Jessica grinned leaning forward to wink over to Adalyn, whose face immediately started to burn.

"You were talking about me?" Embry smiled brightly, looking over to the girl with the tomato red face. She sighed, rolling her eyes as if she were annoyed, though she was obviously trying to make it seem as if it wasn't such a big deal.

"Jessica was convincing me that you like me, I told her I thought that things were probably going to go back to normal. She got upset. It was really nothing interesting," Addie shrugged. Both Jessica and Embry opened their mouths in a bit of shock before Jessica slapped her palm against her forehead.

"Addie, why do you have to make _everything _so awkward?"

"The truth shouldn't have to be awkward." Adalyn shrugged, looking back to Embry. "But sorry if I made you feel awkward."

"I like how honest you are," Embry smiled kind of tightly once he had composed himself. "And Jessica's right, I happen to like _you _in general. You know that, right?"

Adalyn searched for an intelligent and intelligible response, but all she ended up coming up with was an exaggerated shrug. He sighed and the three couldn't help but be silent as they turned to walk down Quileute street, stepping on the smooth asphalt surrounded by hundred year old trees. Embry had always wanted to live on this street, the street that lead to Forks and the highway that he took to Port Angeles. It was the quietest, nicest street, he'd always thought. As they approached Adalyn's house, both Jessica and Embry saw her start to stiffen. She looked nervous, her eyes skittering around to look into each of the windows.

Embry turned around when he felt Jessica's eyes on his back. While he looked at her, she widened her eyes a bit before pushing him a bit closer to Adalyn. Afraid of hurting her, he controlled his actions while raising an eyebrow.

'Do something with her', Jessica mouthed to him. 'She hates it there'.

Well, Embry thought to himself. There were worse things that he had been ordered to do in the past and he liked that taking his imprint out for a nice night sounded suspiciously like a date.

"Hey," he said suddenly, making Adalyn jump again. She had been completely in her own world and had scared herself by forgetting who was with her. Embry smiled at her and she gave a shy grin back. "What are you doing tonight?"

Adalyn looked nervously between Jessica and Embry before turning back to the house. "I was...uh, I don't have anything planned."

"Well, I do," Jessica said quickly. "So I'll see you two love-birds later. Be safe!"

And then she sprinted off toward her house.

"Subtle," Addie muttered under her breath, before turning back to Embry with a smile. One of those way-to-big-for-her-face smiles, which meant she was really happy right now. Embry found he couldn't speak for a moment thanks to how rarely he saw that smile. He tried to drink the image of it in, though at the same time he was promising himself he'd make her smile like that again as soon as he could.

"I've got nothing planned," she said again, almost as if she knew she had to break him out of the trance she had put him in. He smiled a bit more before he felt it fall.

"But you hesitated."

"Wha-no," she shook her head. "I didn't have anything planned."

"But you had something you wanted to do," he guessed. He watched as she slowly gave in and nodded. "What is it?"

"Are you psychic? Or a mind reader?" he sneered at the comment, which made her laugh. "It's just, I saw online today that either tonight or tomorrow night the air will be clear enough to see the Northern lights. This drought we're going through probably gives me the best conditions I've ever had for landscapes-"

"Landscapes?" he paused a minute. "Are you a painter?"

She laughed. "No, and for the world's safety I shouldn't. I kind of like photography."

"Photography?" he thought of the few times he'd spied her out in the woods with Jessica, taking pictures of dew in the grass, but he had never figured she actually did anything with the shots she took. He should have thought farther ahead. "I bet you're good."

"Well, if you ever like the things in the local papers, then I guess I would be."

"You take the pictures for the paper? Addie, that's so cool!" he noticed immediately he was too excited for what someone with a crush should have been, but he couldn't help himself. He'd have to try finding all the papers through the past few months to look through her work. "Well, what if I promise to have you back, at the beach, in time to see it?"

She scrunched her eyebrows. "How did you know I wanted to go to the beach for the shots?"

"No light pollution," he shrugged. "I don't know much about photography, but I know a little bit about stars. I'd bet the idea of light pollution is the same."

He could barely restrain himself from grabbing hold of Adalyn kissing her with how cute and innocent she suddenly looked. He couldn't understand why she looked as if she was amazed with him. He'd never had anyone look at him like that before, as if someone was amazed with something _he'd_ done.

"Do you know constellations?"

"Uh...yup," it was only a little bit of a lie. Embry knew a couple constellations, the most obvious ones - big dipper, little dipper, orion...but he would definitely be doing some research on the others if Adalyn was so captured by them.

"Will you show me?"

This wasn't even _right. _It was like Adalyn was begging for a date, and how could he say no? Just a minute or so ago she had been saying how she didn't even think he liked her...if that was all it took to get her to go out with him for a night, he'd completely do it.

Then again, he didn't know the constellations yet. That was definitely an issue.

"Of course," he smiled. "Tomorrow - after I take you out tonight and get you back in time for the lights." He took a deep breath when he saw her smile again.

"Where are you going to take me?" she asked, curious as she had been earlier.

"Something simple: dinner and a movie?"

Adalyn nodded, before she frowned. "I've never been on a date-date before. I mean, I know that ice cream was considered a date...but what kind of things _really _happen on a date-date?"

"Let's just let it play out." he smiled. "Do you want to come with me to get my car...I know you don't want to have to go inside."

She blushed a little bit, looking over her shoulder and at her house for a moment.

"No," she finally said. "This is my first date-date, I want to do it right. I want to look nice and have all of those traditional settings."

"You already look beautiful," he smiled, watching as she turned her face away again.

"Not compared to you," she mumbled quietly. He wasn't sure if she had meant for him to hear it or not, and he didn't want to embarrass her more because of how red faced she already looked.

"Is it okay if I go grab a car and pick you up around...let's say four?"

"Yeah, I'll get changed and-" she looked down at her sweatpants and sweater before frowning. "I should probably call Jess for this, shouldn't I?"

"Probably. Just don't let her dress you," he laughed. "I want you to be comfortable."

"You make me infinitely comfortable," she blushed. "See you at four."

Embry watched as Adalyn nearly skipped all the way to the backdoor of her house. She was so excited, that for the first time in four years, Adalyn didn't even feel nervous as she entered to change.

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><p><strong>Well, I was going to write more on the date, but so much happens in that chapter that it seemed like it should be one on its own. I hope you liked it and special thanks to my reviewers!<strong>

_Happy2BeeMe_**: I hope you liked this chapter, thank you for always sticking through me with my stories. You'll have another chapter out soon! Thanks for reviewing :)**

_Tamani_**: Thank you for the review, I'm glad you liked it :) Hopefully you liked this too!**

**Please, please ****REVIEW!**

**-Egypt**


	7. Date Night

**This was a hard date to write, I think I put it through four different scenarios. But finally I came up with this, I thought it was the perfect ending before the next chapter – which will be exciting! **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter Six: Date Night<span>

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><p>"Anyone home?" Embry heard his mom ask when she entered the house, the sound of crinkling plastic giving away that she had just gotten back from grocery shopping. He was glad she'd come back on time, there was a long minute there when he had worried he'd be late if his mom kept the car for too long. As if to prove the point he heard the car keys drag across the table as she set them down. He looked back to the mirror, grunting to his mom so she knew he was alive, and went back to assessing himself.<p>

This shirt sucked.

"Well, what are you doing? I was thinking of making hamburgers and home fries for d-" she stopped herself when she came to stand in his bedroom doorway. She seemed surprised to see him looking so intensely into the mirror, pulling on his clothes moodily. "What _are _you doing?"

"Dressing," he said simply, trying to press the wrinkles out of his jeans and red shirt.

"I know, that's why I'm surprised." She sounded like she was mocking him but he didn't turn to see if he was right. She probably was. With a final frown Embry all but tore off the red shirt, roaming around on his messy floor for the nice navy one he'd stolen from Paul a month before. "I'm guessing you're not going to be around for dinner, then?"

"Sorry," he said in a rush, throwing around the clothes on the floor, tossing them this way and that so he could sort through them. "Can't. I have a date."

"A date?" her voice was noticeably lifted. Usually all Embry told his mother was 'I have to see the guys' or 'I'm going to Sam's' or a few times 'saving the public', but never before had he admitted to going out to see a _girl_.

"Yes, a date," he grabbed a tie, looking to see if maybe he should try putting that on, but it looked cheesy and he threw it back into the piles of clothes on his floor. "Hey, do you know anything about constellations?"

"Not really," she frowned. "Why?"

"She likes them," he said simply. "Would Billy?"

"Probably," his mother leaned against the doorframe, getting comfortable for what she thought would be her subtle prying into his love life. "So, what's her name?"

"Adalyn," he almost said it like a relieved sigh, a sigh where no one would have been able to deny the affection in his voice. Her eyebrows raised.

"Adalyn Greene?"

"You _know _her?" It wasn't actually that surprising that she would. Everyone seemed to know everyone else around here and she did work a job down at the convenience store where everyone stopped by. Then again, most people knew of Adalyn thanks to more depressing reasons than working a minimum wage job – most people knew Adalyn because of her sister.

"I see her every now and then," his mother shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. How could she know it was possibly the biggest deal and most important conversation he'd felt they'd had since he'd phased? "She comes in sometimes to get film developed for the paper. She said to Mack that she has her own darkroom but sometimes she just can't trust herself to like them before she sends them."

"You've _seen _them?" He asked again, pretty much stuck on a loop of Imprint-mode. His mother couldn't stop herself from laughing at him, crossing her arms and watching as he threw on a wrinkled navy shirt that she knew was not his – it fit him nicely though.

"Of course, I package them. She's very good," she watched as he assessed himself in the mirror again, this time without as deep a frown. "That one looks much better."

He sighed thankfully, turning to his mother almost – no, it couldn't be that he was bashful, was he? Tiffany hadn't seen her son act so much like...well, her son...since he'd gone through his growth spurt. "You sure?"

"Very, so this Adalyn-" he couldn't help but groan aloud. There was some kind of speech or interrogation coming, he just knew it. "What's she like?"

"She's a genius," he said simply. "She's the one who helped me pass Chem. And English," he added as an afterthought. She smiled.

"Smart enough to teach you? She _must_ be a genius." Embry frowned at her but Tiffany laughed again, it wasn't often that he and his mother had this long of a conversation without the two of them getting into a fight and that happened a little more often than 'now and then'. You could see the relief all over her features that they weren't, it made Embry feel guilty. "What else?"

"She's gorgeous. And sweet – but really direct and blunt, which is nice. You girls all play head games," he mocked. "But she doesn't."

"No?"

"No. She's a romantic," he gave a little grimace again – it happened every time he had to think about it. It didn't matter how many chick flicks he'd forced himself to sit and watch, he could never understand exactly what someone who was a romantic expected. Flowers? Chocolates? Forethought? Emotional conversations and stimulations? Public acts of devotion? Some people were embarrassed by stuff like that, he knew Adalyn would be – she hated people paying her any mind at all.

"Then you have to get her flowers, she'll expect them." As Embry went about to argue she held up her hand and shook her head. "Playing head games or not playing head games, every girl has seen in movies that boys bring flowers. If she's a romantic, she's seen those movies. She might not mean to expect them, but she will."

He looked at his watch, frowning when he realized he was pretty much running out of time. He searched his room for clean socks, which he soon realized did not exist. To make it more reasonable, he looked for clean_ish _socks which were a little easier to find.

"So, you really like her?" His mother asked, taking a seat on his bed. He scoffed.

"I _love _her," he corrected, only to stop what he was doing when he realized he'd just admitted that to his _mom. _He widened his eyes, still bent down to put on his socks before he shot up and held his hands out to his mom cautiously. Oh god, this would not be good. "Please don't freak out..."

"Freak out?" she asked with eyebrows all the way to her hairline. "Embry, I'm ecstatic! Maybe _she'll _be able to get your act in gear. She seems like a very level-headed young woman-"

"Yeah, yeah," he blushed, standing up so he could get away from the talk he knew was coming – the 'settle down' talk and the 'you have had your fun but grow up' lecture. "Please don't stew over this. I have to go if I want to pick up flowers – I'll probably be back a little bit later. Addie and I are going to Port Angeles for dinner and a movie."

"Let her pick the movie," his mother responded knowingly. "And make sure to get her roses – every girl likes roses."

"Sure, mom." He rolled his eyes, going to walk past her and grab the keys to the car. In a moment of thought that shocked them both, he turned to her and kissed her on the cheek before leaving. His mother watched him go in shock – Embry had barely acknowledged her for months, nevertheless kissed her goodbye.

Well, she thought to herself with a smile, that made it a quick and easy decision whether or not she liked the girl. New love or not, Adalyn Greene was bringing her son back, and that made her decide there was something strange about that girl that would forever leave the woman in her debt.

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><p>When Embry rolled up in the beaten up Honda, Adalyn was sitting and waiting for him on her front steps. Though she could not have known what was behind her from where she was, Embry could see that inside the house her parents were standing and watching her like vultures. Luckily the light blinded someone trying to look through the glass – he didn't want Addie to have to see them. He had a feeling that she was standing outside simply to avoid their eyes and reminding her they were watching would only upset her more.<p>

Adalyn came towards Embry with something close to a hop in her step – she was excited. She tried not to show it, but a blind man would have been able to see it. Luckily she hadn't let Jessica dress her, either. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts and a bright yellow top. As always, she was in flats – he doubted she even owned heels because she didn't seem to enjoy being so tall. He doubted she'd want to publicize just how tall she was even more. The idea of hiding her height was lost, however, because the jean shorts she wore showed off her long legs, which Embry found hard to turn away from. As was common, Addie's hair was braided off to the side. Something not as common, Adalyn was smiling.

"Hi," she breathed as she slid into the car beside him.

"Hi," he breathed back before his eyes widened. "You look...oh! I got these for you."

He handed her a bouquet of flowers so that he wouldn't have to embarrass himself by sounding like the chick flicks he'd been studying. And, by the look on her face, she _did _like the flowers. His mother had told her to get roses, it was true, but by the time he had gotten there he had decided that the lilies were prettier and reminded him of her thanks to the name of her sister. He knew, instinctively, that she would appreciate those more. "I've never gotten flowers before."

"Well, if you like me after tonight, you'll get lots." She sombred a bit, looking at him with a wry grin.

"Don't you mean if you like me?"

"I already like you," he smiled brightly at her. "In fact, I like you enough that I'll even let you pick out the movie."

She raised her eyebrows. "Wow...that's a mistake."

And knowing Adalyn's blunt honesty, it probably was.

The drive to Port Angeles was awkward for the first fifteen minutes until Adalyn had enough sense to put on the radio. Embry didn't know what to say to her that didn't involve 'I love you' and feared that he'd let something slip like 'did you know we're destined to be together? Or that's what the tribe's werewolf law says anyway'; Adalyn, on a whole, wasn't talkative, so she and Embry sat in silence until she started to play music. Embry had been interested to hear the music she listened to, he watched while her hands carefully adjusted the radio to stations she wanted to hear, changing when songs played that she wasn't interested in, never singing with the radio but mouthing along to the lyrics that she could remember – which didn't seem like many. Embry had a feeling that she usually preferred silence, even though she hadn't been too pleased with the awkward one earlier on.

By the time the two of them drove into Port Angeles it was just after five. Driving up the main strip and stopping just outside of the movie theatre, Embry pulled over so he and Adalyn could get a look at the times. He hadn't seen any of the movies that were playing, but that was because his 'work' schedule never allowed time to have a night on the town. He hadn't even _heard _of the movies playing, however, because he was generally out of the normal human loop. There was an action movie that looked interesting and a horror movie that was pretty tempting, but otherwise there was nothing he wanted to see...which, of course, meant that it was exactly where Adalyn was looking.

"Anything look good to you?" he asked, looking over at her and seeing her eyes trained on the posters with a small blush creeping up her cheeks.

"That vampire movie looks good."

"You're kidding," his face fell, his eyes watching her expressions cautiously. She didn't really have a thing for vampires did she? He couldn't let himself end up like Jake: falling for a girl who fell for a vampire...she wouldn't, would she? His mind raced with 'what ifs' and she had to laugh at the face he made while it did.

"Of course not," she sighed dreamily. "It's so romantic."

"Romantic?" he couldn't help sneering. "It's romantic when monsters kill people?"

"It's romantic how they'll fight against anyone, even themselves, to be with the one meant for them. It's sexy and passionate... It's like fighting instincts just because they know-" she cut herself off quickly and turned her head so he couldn't see her while she looked out the window. His interest was perked.

"Know what?"

"It's stupid."

"Know what?" he asked again, his interest even more peaked now that she seemed embarrassed by it. Adalyn was so different than the other imprints: the other imprints felt safe and at ease and just opened up to their wolves, but she always surprised him.

He liked surprises.

"True love?" she nearly asked him, almost as if asking him how creeped out he was by the answer. "I know, I told you it's stupid."

"Vampires? Yeah, that's stupid," Embry sighed, feeling himself become just as giddy as she must have. "True love though? I believe in it."

She looked surprised. "You don't seem the type, you know, to be a believer."

"Call me reformed," he grinned back. After a moment of breathless grinning, he sighed again, still with a smile that stretched his face. "You really want to see the vamp one, huh?"

"Yes, but if you don't want to I'll pretend to play coy until you give in out of guilt."

Honesty was Adalyn's best policy.

"Well, what do you want to do for an hour and a bit?" he asked, pushing the emergency break down and checking to make sure there was no traffic coming. She looked surprised when he glanced at her.

"You really want to see it?"

"No," he shrugged. "But you do. So, where will it be?"

"I don't know, I'm not really that hungry," Adalyn explained noncommittally. "What about you? Don't you beefcakes eat like pigs?"

"Not quite the animal I'd use," he mused to himself with a grin. "How do you feel about pizza?"

She smiled widely. "I love pizza."

"Perfect."

Putting the car back in gear, Embry drove down the strip toward the pizza place he'd been to once or twice before that he knew was notorious for having the biggest pizzas. From what he remembered it tasting pretty good, too. When the two pulled up, Embry almost had to fight Adalyn to go and eat inside – she didn't like being out in public and she didn't like staying in one place long enough to have anyone notice her...particularly if it ended up being someone she knew.

When he had finally convinced her to go inside, the two had decided against buying an entire pizza and ended up buying different slices. The three that Embry bought were about the size of a medium pizza put together and Adalyn had gotten a plain cheese slice that she warned him she would likely pass off. He was glad she said it considering he normally ordered five slices, but she had seemed upset by the quantity as it was – sometimes he forgot that he was supposed to let the wolf qualities show _slowly_.

"So," Embry began slowly, while they sat eating at the table. He was sure to swallow thickly to ensure he wasn't going to spit any food at her. "You like _vampires_."

"You _don't _like vampires," she said back simply. She had a bemused grin on her face. "I thought guys were all into blood, gore, and sex. Aren't vampires pretty much everything a teenage boy stands for?"

"Actually they're against everything I stand for," not that she would understand that. "Okay, maybe just the vampire part," he lied with a shrug. "They're not my favourite mythical creature."

"What are, fairies?" she raised her eyebrows tauntingly at him, even when he scoffed.

"Hardy, har, har. I was thinking more along the lines of werewolves," he said slowly, taking a big bite of pizza so that he had time to hear her answer and wouldn't look too awkward _waiting_ for her answer in the process.

"Werewolves are cool," Adalyn mused toward the ceiling. "But I hate them in movies."

Who cares, movies suck, Embry thought excitedly. "Why?"

"Well, they never really look like werewolves, do they? They look like a man that's part wolf or a wolf that happens to turn into a man later on. I mean, it's not like I've ever seen one-" oh, if she only knew... "-but they can't be cool when they look so stupid, you know?"

Embry smiled at her. "I guess that's true. They could be pretty badass if they did them right. I always thought werewolves were kind of cool – wanted to be a vet growing up, for wild animals."

"Zoology or Wildlife rehabilitation?" She said making him raise his eyebrows. Alright, he hadn't looked into animal studies _that _much, but she seemed to at least empathize with it, which was good and nice for him to bring up later. "I thought about it, but a doctor just seemed to make more sense, considering my dad and all."

"Yeah," Embry drew out the word, watching Adalyn carefully as she ate. He knew that this wasn't her favourite subject, but after seeing her parents watching her from the window, it seemed as good a time to ask about them as any. "Speaking about your dad...what's going on with you and your parents? You seem kinda...uh, at odds with 'em."

Adalyn froze for a long moment, her slice of pizza half way up to her mouth before she dropped it back onto the paper plate. He could feel the discomfort rolling off of her in waves, but he didn't know if he wanted to take it back. As much as he hated seeing his imprint feel uncomfortable, something told him that the problem with her parents wasn't going to be getting better anytime soon and she would need to talk about it with him eventually. She needed to talk to _someone _about it – her cousin Jessica had said so herself. Still, he knew he had said the wrong thing, particularly when her eyes flashed to him angrily.

"What's up with Jacob Black suddenly going on the run, you wanna talk about that?"

"Touché," he grimaced, sitting up a little bit straighter. "You win."

"Good," she said stiffly. "No more talk about my parents."

"And no talk about Jake." But Embry _did _want to talk about Jake. He did want to talk about how bad it was having his best friend just leave and not have any consideration for anyone that he left behind, he wanted to talk about how much he hated the spoiled brat he ran away for...but Adalyn didn't want to talk. And if Adalyn didn't want to talk about her parents, he wasn't going to go and force her into a conversation about something she didn't want to talk about. Not when this night had so much potential.

It was an awkward dinner after that, another one full of silences that Adalyn had filled with music and mouthed words in the car. The silence here was now filled with distorted restaurant music that he didn't recognize and she didn't hum under her breath. Adalyn apparently wasn't close to as hungry as she had thought and gave Embry almost her entire piece of pizza – despite all his protests that not eating wasn't healthy. Instead, she urged him to eat faster so she could get snacks at the movies and not being able to deny her anything, Embry ate without restraint, showing her a little snippet of how he really was when he wasn't under florescent lighting.

Maybe she was just the type of girl that didn't like conversation. Or maybe it was confrontation, since it was the talk of her parents that had made her bristle. Hell, maybe her blunt honesty was broken. Embry just wanted to make this date work – it was not going well, no matter how much he enjoyed the time he was getting with her, but he was ready to try stepping it up by taking her to the movie and seeing if that went any better.

By the time they had parked and gotten back to the movie theatre, it was almost six and their vampire movie was going to start playing in fifteen minutes. Though Embry walked with heavy steps – now suddenly nervous over whether or not his instincts to hunt would be a problem in the theatre – he was sure to buy her a medium popcorn and a medium orange soda before he got himself a large popcorn, bag of m&m's, nachos with cheese and salsa, and a large rootbeer.

"I don't get it," she frowned, looking at the box of food he was balancing. He almost jumped at the sound of her voice toward him considering how quiet she'd been since his try for the Jacob and parent conversation. "I mean, I know men on steroids need to eat a lot, or else they'd expend all their food on energy for beefing out, but I didn't expect such a drastic need for food to require the muscle development. Some, sure, but this much..."

"Whoa doctorate," Embry's stuttered, trying to hide his laughter. "Did I just lose you to the land of science for a second there?"

"Maybe," she blushed. "But I was being serious."

"First of all, I'm not on steroids. Second, where do you want to sit?"

"Oh," she looked around the movie theatre, still lit enough to help them see the available seats. Surprisingly the movie seemed to be in high demand and there weren't many options for them to choose from. Embry just hoped that she wouldn't decide on a cramped spot, considering his height, or the very front, considering he didn't want an kink in his neck.

"There," she pointed to the side, right by the aisle and moved toward it without asking if he agreed with her. He liked that, a girl knowing what she wanted. He also liked that she had chosen the general area he liked sitting most. She sat down in the inside seat and shot him a small smile. "Something told me you'd need more room."

"Psychic," he teased, stretching his legs out into the aisle for a moment. He tried not to get lost in a goofy grin as he thought about how great and considerate she was. "So, ready for some bloodsuckers and neckbiters?"

Adalyn let out a giggle, but he could tell she felt embarrassed. "You could have said no if you are really so against it."

"No I couldn't, you want to see it," he shrugged. "And I wanted to see you, so in the end we all get what we want." He could basically feel her blushing while she cleared her throat twice.

"I'm sorry for earlier. Kind of," she croaked out quietly as the trailers started to play.

"And I'm sorry for asking. Kind of," he said in response, only to recieve a grin she was trying to repress in response. Embry didn't feel the need to say anything more, instead he turned to watch the trailers, shoving popcorn in his mouth before he somehow ruined the moment and made an idiot of himself.

The movie got into the flow of vampires and forbidden love quickly. It was as much a romance movie as any other chick flick he'd watched, but with a lot more blood. Adalyn had pulled her legs up so that her knees were hugging her chest as soon as the lights went down. Embry, distracted from the movie considering how close the two of them sat, took the time to wonder what that meant, when she was hugging her knees like that – his mother had once said that him sleeping on his stomach meant something psychologically and him sitting leaned back in his chair meant something psychologically too. So what would a study like that say about Adalyn? He couldn't help wondering every little thing about her – she was more complicated and confusing than any girl he'd ever known and yet all he wanted to do was dig himself into all that complication with her...you know, if she'd ever warm up to him.

Sometimes it seemed unlikely.

"Are you really comfortable like that?" he asked quietly, during a chase scene where a hunter was after the vampire. He didn't need to see this part: he knew exactly how the hunt went.

"Are you really comfortable like _that_?" Embry had brought his legs in from the aisle about fifteen minutes before when someone had passed him to leave for the bathroom. Even looking down on himself he could see how cramped and sore he looked. He felt even worse.

"You're just full of comebacks, aren't you?" he smiled down at her, only to receive a small grin.

"It's a talent."

"But you like it, right?" he asked, looking back up to the screen again, seeing that now the hunter had decided to hunt down the girl to use her as bait against her vampire lover. Adalyn's eyes flickered to the screen as well before they settled back on him. She took the right arm that was wrapped around her leg and poked his arm until he turned his hand up on his leg. She then put her hand in his, holding it there simply.

"God, that wasn't even a hint. Will I have to do all the moves?" She grinned quietly, not looking at him but turning back to the projection of the movie. He could feel the heat of embarrassment warm up the two of them even more than his heightened temperature seemed to. And Embry, still dazed and staring down at their entwined hands, could hardly make a coherent thought when he thought about it.

Her hands were so small...

Though he couldn't tell why Adalyn sat so hunched without study, he know that without study he couldtell that Adalyn _loved _vampires. She didn't seem very into the blood and gore, luckily, but she was just as entranced by the male lead as any other girl who had come into the theater around them...how awkward. It was near the end of the movie, when the woman was turned into a vampire to be with the male lead, that she swooned. Maybe a better, more general observation was that Adalyn _loved _the idea of love.

Oh god, she _was _a romantic.

What happened _now_, after the date, in the romantic's book of dates? Embry had no idea.

If only there was a book for this kind of thing, the thought with a frown.

She walked out of the theatre, swinging her half-eaten bag of popcorn with a dreamy smile. It would have been entrancing to watch if Embry wasn't so distracted by how nervous he'd become...Adalyn was a romantic who liked vampires and could go stretches of time without speaking to him...there was no chapter for this in the Imprint Rulebook his friends that his friends talked about every time he was in their heads. He had no idea how to handle this – had any of the other guys ever been this nervous? He had no clue. Maybe he was just panicking...

"It was sweet, wasn't it?"

"I guess," he shrugged, he still was having trouble getting over the image of the man biting at the woman so many times. In this version of vampire lore, a vampire didn't have poisoned saliva like the realvampires he'd encountered. These ones got to choose who they turned into monsters – he couldn't tell if that made them better or worse.

He was sure to open the car door for her, watching as she got in with something close to a giggle. He went around to his own door, shooting her a tight smile before starting up the car and getting ready to speed back to La Push. At this point, he was desperate to talk to someone like Sam or Jared – Kim seemed like she might be the romantic type...

"You seem...really unhappy," she frowned quietly while she strapped on her seatbelt. She was watching him closely, seeing right through the tight smiles that he gave. When he looked back at her he was appalled to see that she actually looked dejected. "Was it that bad?"

"The date was great," he smiled widely, trying to look convince her. Then again, Adalyn was not easily convinced. "I just have a thing about...uh...blood."

"Oh," she frowned more. "Why didn't you say anything? I would have picked something else."

"I told you that you could pick," he argued. "And you loved it. And I loved watching you love it, so no harm, no foul."

"Oh," she whispered to herself, turning her head out the car window as he drove back to La Push. "Well, I'm sorry for tonight."

"I told you, tonight was great," he smiled. "Stop worrying."

"No it wasn't, Embry," she sighed, he wondered if she saw how much he shivered when she said his name. "I've never been on a date before, but I know that this isn't how they're supposed to go. I ruined it thanks to my gaucheness-"

"Gaucheness?" Embry repeated, trying not to smirk.

"It means socially awkward," she paused. "That was an awkward word to use, wasn't it?"

"Addie, I think _you're _awkward," he laughed, trying to lighten the blow of what he had just told her, but she didn't laugh with him. He quieted as the panic set in – had he gone too far? Had he finally pushed the limits and upset her to the point she just wanted to leave?

Adalyn never answered the question for him. She had turned herself to face the window again and hadn't moved for a half hour. They were almost back in La Push when he convinced himself that she had fallen asleep in the passenger's seat, her forehead nearly pressed against the glass, her braid swinging every time he moved the car a little too quickly. He imagined what he would do if he could keep the car all night, drive them away so that she wouldn't have to go back into that house and she wouldn't feel the need to leave La Push, or him, to go to Seattle for the summer...if he only had time to convince her, met her a month earlier...

"They blame me," she said suddenly, breaking the illusions he'd built up in his head about driving away as she slept. He tried to control the surprise in his voice by clearing his throat.

"Who, what now?" he fumbled, nearly startled by her words. Yes, that sounded nice.

"My parents. They blame me for what happened to Lily. Which, I guess makes sense. I don't really have the heart to fight them on it. Dad stopped going to work at the hospital so Mom just started to keep him out of sight: he's on disability and she's embarrassed. Then she blamed for taking Dad away from her too. So I'm the one that everyone blames and dad's too mentally unwell to face the media," she sighed loudly. "Which is ironic, because I take the pictures for the local media."

"Why would they blame you?" Embry asked with a frown, his mind racing over all the images of Adalyn's parents that he had seen. They had always been cold and she had always felt so upset every time they were close – their glares seemed to make her want to weep and froze the blood in her veins – could it really be because they hated their own daughter thinking she'd caused the death of the other one? Could she be exaggerating or making it worse in her head? No. No, Adalyn wasn't one to make something like that up. "It's not like it was your fault."

"Why did Jacob Black leave?" she asked, cutting off his thoughts. I guess it made sense why she asked, it was in return for answering his question about her parents – a give and take notion – but thinking about Jake still darkened his thoughts and made him frown. "Jessica met him and thought he was a lovestruck idiot – she was there when he had his romantic walk with Isabella Swan last year, I think she said it was a beach trip – is it true he left because of her?"

"Yeah," Embry's grip tightened on the wheel. "Yeah, she broke his heart."

"So he ran away?" she did not sound impressed. In fact, she sounded disgusted.

"Yeah," Embry said cautiously, immediately noticing the scepticism. "He didn't want to have to be haunted by the thought of her getting married to someone else. She sent him an invite for the wedding this August. She sent it to all of us."

"Was it malicious?" Addie asked again, crossing her arms over her chest while she looked back out the window.

"Knowing her? No. Probably just her being stupid and hoping he'll stick around anyway."

"That _is_ stupid," she hummed.

"Kind of," he frowned again, now that he had explained everything he suddenly wanted to take it back and explain it differently. Embry didn't want Adalyn to think badly of his best friend – as she suddenly seemed to – so he tried to throw reason to the romantic. "He was heartbroken."

She snorted derisively. "So what you're telling me is that because he was heartbroken he ran away, breaking the hearts of all the people he left behind without a thought?"

Embry raised his eyebrows...nothing like that had ever crossed his mind. Okay, maybe it had crossed his mind, but it had never been a thought he'd entertained once it had trailed through his mind. Now, suddenly, it sounded like an actual offence. "Yeah...yeah, I guess that's about right."

"Embry, your friend's a selfish idiot." She said bluntly, looking at him for emphasis before looking out the windshield with a frown. "You can't see the Northern lights...ignore the beach."

"I'm sorry, Addie."

"No, I'm sorry," she said simply. "I'm sorry that your friend only thinks about his feelings and never stopped to consider yours. He's an asshole and he'll know it when he comes back, even if I have to tell him myself."

And although he knew he'd probably have thought anything his imprint ever said was true, he somehow knew from her bluntness and logical way of thinking that Adalyn Greene was _right_. She had been abandoned by her parents just like Bella had abandoned Jacob and Jacob had abandoned them all.

* * *

><p><strong>Aww, Embry feels betrayed by Jacob. And Adalyn now hates Jacob. Oh, this will be fun, I promise. Here's to all my fantastic reviewers:<strong>

_BreakingFree2015_**: I hope you liked this chapter as well, thank you for reviewing!**

_Happy2BeeMe_**: This one was mostly in Embry's point of view, so hopefully you enjoyed this one. You'll find out what happened to Lily in the next few chapters, so stay tuned :) Thanks for your thoughts**

_LightSkin DarkHeart_**: Well, we know Adalyn was blamed for her death, but you'll have to wait to find out why. Thank you for the review :)**

_Angel of the Night Watchers_**: Thank you for doing the Green Eyed Monster chapters. How's the beginning of your (school) year going. I never asked, are you still teaching? Man, this story can be really hard to crack out sometimes, I'm just not as excited about it. But I REFUSE to give up on it because it will link with Forgetting Franki so much as soon as I can get over this first hump...it has potential, I just have to push past this part. Sigh. How are you?**

**Thank you so much for all those who follow, favourite and review. If you have time, please check out my new pole on my profile page. I really hope that you all like this chapter, the next one won't take as long and will be exciting so if you want to give me some thoughts or inspiration please give me a **_**REVIEW!**_

**-Egypt**

**_**Sorry if you just got another message about this. This chapter was changed by a hacker and has been rebooted as it was.**_**


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